Dark Souls: Remnant Of The Flame
by For We Are Dust
Summary: The fire fades, and so must the world with it. The lords have spread the flame across time itself, even unto this new world. This world, this Remnant lives without the flame... and it has so much to burn. These four girls, only they can guide the flame... but only one can have it. This world, will have one ending... and only one true lord. May the flames guide thee. Adult Language.
1. Chapter 1

The fire fades, and so must the world with it. The lords have spread the flame across time itself, even unto this new world. This world, this Remnant lives without the flame... and it has so much to burn. These four girls, only they can guide the flame... but only one can have it. This world, will have one ending... and only one true lord. May the flames guide thee. Adult Language.

 **So here we are. I'm not entirely sure how to write anything of literary merit but essays. The fact i was top of my class in AP lit is pretty much source for that. A 7 out of 9 in that class is basically a 90-95 so it isn't really that surprising. Writing a work of fiction i would assume is incredibly different. And for that, i'll just wing it. You gotta start somewhere. I figure the best way to learn is to figure it out from your own mistakes instead of being told not what to do. Before we begin let me drop just a slight pre set to the story i couldn't fit in the description. The events will take place from the beginning of dark souls 3 onward and at an alternate timeline in rwby where the threat of grim is present and so is cinder and roman and the white fang and whatnot, but are currently being crushed between the events of the two universes. I don't really have a specified start from the rwby universe, but it starts while they were still in beacon and are well adjusted both as a team and as friends sometime before the vital festival begins. So far other things are unspecified but this world is a direct cross in the two. Not just characters in a different universe. It's like instead of taking the blue pill or the red pill, you said fuck it and took both at once. So here we go. I'll rely on some form of feedback as i'm looking for criticism and not a school grade, so i'll need the help of others to build this story with me. And let the story begin. Hope you like it. All rights reserved. I don't own RWBY or any of the Dark Souls series. I have to say that because idk if all rights reserved covers that or not.**

"Hey Yang?"

"Yeah."

"How does the festival work exactly?"

"What do you mean?", Weiss decided to pitch in. "It's not exactly hard to understand. It's a standard tournament style festival. Elimination serves between two teams, the winning teams halves, the next winning halves, then back to the others until every half team has competed, then comes the single rounds,and then one by one everyone is eliminated until the finals. After that the remaining person is the champion."

"Uh… that hurt my head Weiss. Can you explain that without saying 'halves' a thousand times?"

"Yeah that sounded like it was better in your head than when it came out", Yang said.

Weiss sighed placing her hand on her forehead. "Look it's-"

"4 v 4, 2 v 2, 1 v 1 in that order until everyone has had a chance to be eliminated. Whoever is left wins", Blake chimed in.

"Oh, thanks Blake. But does that mean there's a possibility we all have to face each other?"

"Potentially", Weiss said.

Looking up at the holographic projection of the elimination tree didn't seem as hard now. Now it seemed disappointing. Her hopes of winning as a team are diminished now. Doesn't that suck.

"So we can't really win as a team can we…", Ruby said as her head drooped from the projection board to the ground.

"Ruby haven't you ever watched one of these? There's always a champion. Not _champion_ _ **s**_.", Yang finally said.

"I mean sort of. Kind of. Not really. No?", Ruby admitted looking to her sister.

"But you still should've had some kind of idea as to how this works?"

"Nope." Ruby smirked no longer pouting to herself. Paying no more attention to the board she said, "I guess we just have to give it our all." With the excitement of competition filling her tone she took a brisk pace walking away from the board, her team in tow.

"That's my little sister", Yang said while slinging her arm around her sister's shoulder while promptly messing up her hair with her other hand.

"Yang stop, Im trying to have a moment of competitive pride! Damn you!", she broke free while fixing her head back into its normal look. The hair isn't a problem but dammit touching people's head so vigorously is just weird. She didn't understand why noogies were made. Then again this was Yang and she does a lot of unnecessary things.

Continuing their walk through Vale Weiss began rambling on about nothings while Ruby took in the atmosphere. People were abuzz and walking about. Some stopping at the boards taking in whatever they displayed with excitement being their goal. And it looked like it payed off. Even from the outside of the stadium or coliseum if you will, people flocked in and out to look at the soon to be hosting area of the festival's tournament. The sun was providing such a nice day, the wind blew just enough to cool things down and there was just something in the air that was electric. Ruby hoped it was as energizing here as it was for others around the world watching from their homes. Apparently she was the only one feeling this as the rest of her team actually paid attention to Weiss. As the click of her heels suddenly stopped, so did the stimulation Ruby was thriving off of.

"I mean, how are we supposed to prepare for that?", she asked the team.

"Prepare for what?", Ruby asked obviously not caring for her lack of attention prior to now.

"How were supposed to face each other?", Weiss said as a matter of factly as if it were just brought up before. Oh wait. "Having knowledge over your enemy can be extremely useful in combat, but if we face each other we're going to already have each other's statuses planed out."

Oh yeah. Ruby hadn't thought of that. If you were potentially facing your team should you train with them? It seems like it'd work in your favor if you trained against them for that particular reason. But at the same time they're also training against you.

"So do we train for something like this? Or would not knowing our team's abilities work better?", Weiss asked.

"Uhh…", Ruby drew a blank. She could see the pros and cons of each. But if you were going into unknown territory, at least you could have the optimism to wing it. Right?

"I think we should be prepared for anything. And by that we be prepared to adapt to anything necessary. I think we should wing it. Besides, i feel like if we plan a strategy against each other we'd probably drag it out trying to stick to the plan. If we go in not expecting anything it seems more practical. Besides, we're not going to have a plan for every encounter in life right?", Ruby said.

"Although i could draw a complete paradox from that contradictory statement, I agree with Ruby. Training with someone training against you seems counter productive. Besides, most people we meet we won't have prep time for. It's best to go in head strong ready for anything. At least in our case.", Blake said.

"So expect the unexpected?", Yang quirked.

"No. Wait. Yeah. I guess so. Wait everything we just said could apply to the opposite reason. Goddammit." Weiss said frustrated. Putting her hands on her hips obviously annoyed with the mass of confusion. "Are we training for this or are we not training for this?", she demanded.

Ruby smirked again. "We're not. We aim to win. Not to plan. As fast, and as efficiently as we can. Right?", she asked looking to Blake and Yang.

"Right", they both replied.

"Well, glad we've got that hypothetical out of the way. Any others we think we should know?", Weiss asked getting tired of… this.

"If we ever had to kill each other how would we do it?"

"I already don't like this Ruby", Blake said and continued walking, the rest catching up.

"Oh come on, you never think about these scenarios? For no reason?"

"No i have, just i'd really prefer we don't have to meet that situation."

"Well in any case, I'd do it as fast as possible. Because i love all you guys. And i wouldn't want death something to be drawn out", Ruby reassured.

"AWW MY SISTER CARES SO MUCH", Yang said picking up Ruby in a bone crushing bear hug.

"Yang. Down", Ruby plied trying to get her face away from her sisters cleavage.

"Dark, yet thoughtful", Blake smiled at the thought.

"Someone please change the subject", Weiss pleaded.

Yang dropped Ruby letting her gasp in some air. "Aliens or Zombies", Yang asked.

"Zombies", Blake said.

"Aliens", Weiss retorted.

"Aliens are intelligent and are likely more advanced than we are. They'd no doubt be planned for something like mass extinction of a planet", Blake explained.

"But aliens rely on advanced technology. We can find loopholes for that. Zombie are based off infection. If you kill a zombie you haven't killed the infection. You've just killed a host. And besides, death by zombies seems a lot worse than death by aliens. I'd rather be vaporized than get turned into a walking intelligent corpse", Weiss countered.

"Ooohhh this is getting philosophical", Yang chirped. "Maybe we can settle for alien zombies."

"That sounds like it should be in a game", Ruby said finally breathing normal again. "But i have faith that humanity would prevail. We've overcome a lot so far. Just look at the grim."

Blake opened her mouth and held up her pointer finger to say something but Ruby was already ahead of her.

"Humanity as a symbolism. We all know fanaus are just as human as everyone else. Just because you're fanaus doesn't mean you've lost your humanity." Blake put her hand down and closed her mouth. Everyone looked at each other. Ruby started to giggle and the other three joined in not knowing why. "We're a weird bunch", Ruby said in between fits of laughing. Everyone agreed in laughter. "I already forgot why we're here."

"It's Sunday and Weiss wanted to spot out potential threats. Just like she did with Sun", Blake said.

"Everyone is a threat!"

"Or you're just paranoid", Yang countered.

"I'm sorry for wanting to see a potential threat coming"

"Can we get something to eat?", Ruby suggested. "We don't live forever you know. We should focus maybe on something we need now instead of neglecting it for something in the future?"

"Everyone stop trying to sound smart _**please**_ and let's just get some food at the other courtyard before the world ends?", Yang asked.

Nobody could answer. A sound that could rival a bomb filled the sky. Darkness ensued as the sun grew dark, the screams following after making the sight all the more once warm world grew infinitely blacker, the once comforting winds now roaring in size until there was no more. The cries still echo until there was nothing but the sound of discernable chaos. Sounds from the unknown surface, roars and cries of pain all too common the sound of something ghoulish and mad and just awful now mix in the harmony that exists in this darkness.

"Whats going on?"

"Some one help please!"

"No stay bac-hhh"

Terror now surrounds them. The sound of blood choking someone's own breathing, objects tearing through flesh, clashing of bodies and weapons and flesh all repeating. Blood spilling to the floor with a splat followed by an inhuman scream of defiance.

"Ruby! Can you see anything?", Yang cried.

"I can't. Are you guys still here? Where are you?", Ruby responded in a frantic, panicked voice. Nothing seemed to be giving off any light. Not the sky, not street lights, not the holographic projections they once saw. Nothing. Not even the sky. Ruby looked around for anything she could get her bearings from. The only thing left was the moon, shattered in pieces once reflecting the light from the sun, was dwindling and gone in seconds. Nothing. Nothing was left.

"Ruby we're still he-", Weiss attempted to say. Suddenly the wind grew thick. Ash filled the wind and everything changed. Ruby failed to shield her eyes. Taken by surprise she tried to say something, anything as her eyes burned. But as fate would have it she coughed, and choked and barely managed to breathe as the tainted air filled her lungs. She fell over still hearing the coughing of her team around her. The chaos gone now replaced with an ever louder growing wind, until it stopped. Ruby heaved and coughed until it suddenly vanished. She opened her eyes hoping the ash was gone from the wind. Hoping to see anything. _Something_. To give her bearing. She saw Yang apparently getting up, staggering through the ash blowing around them.

"Ruby!", she shouted as she saw her. Her hand reached out, the other gripping her abdomen from coughing this tainted air. Ruby reached her hand out doing the same Yang ran toward her in desperation, but before she could reach her as sound called, and the ashes took her away. She could see Yang no more. Too stunned and shocked she was frozen until she heard another voice.

"G-Guys…"

Ruby turned to see Blake on her knees leaning forward on her one hand, the other on her the front of her neck, coughing still. And just as fast as she had seen Blake, she had been taken away. "Blake…", Ruby said weakly. The sound again ringing. The ashes still writhing around her like a sand storm. It's a miracle she could see anything at all. Her eyes filling with tears. No. This can't be happening. She couldn't hear them anymore. Just the wind and the ash… Then

She turned frantically and saw weiss. She had just stood up, getting her bearings. She hadn't even made eye contact. Ruby with whatever energy she had left made a dash toward her. She couldn't let this happen. Not now. "Weiss!", she screamed. But not even her speed could save her. The noise sounded again and she, just like Blake and Yang was taken away with the wind.

Collapsing trying to grasp where weiss had just been fell over onto the ground. The ground looked just like everything else had, nothing but a mess of swirling ashes illuminated by whatever light still allowed her to see. The grey yellow tint of what the wind carried didn't hurt her eyes anymore. She closed them tears spilling over as she waited for what's to come. Then the noise sounded again. It sounded like a low hum of a gong struck long ago as the sound slowly died. Then what sounded like angels singing for just a second, a melody she was sure meant her end, sounded, and stopped.

Then there was nothing but the sound of the wind. It slowly died down until it defiantly sounded like it were normal again. Ruby laid there unsure of what to do. With whatever will she has left, she opened her eyes. The ground was a dull grey. It wasn't the grey of the courtyard concrete. It was the grey of decayed and long since usable dirt. Almost the shade of ashes themselves. Slowly, she stood up. Regaining some strength the ashes slowly fell off of herself, falling to the ground below her. Where was she? The ground had shifted and the very world around her had changed. She dared not look up from where she was standing, but felt she had no choice.

In front of her, what used to be colosseum was now destroyed. Walls several stories above her crumbled and the stone in jagged shapes are what remained. The entire right half of the area gone, a cliff taking it's place. Fog was the only visible thing below. But oddly enough she was able to make out the features of where she used to be. Alongside the cliff a path leading into the split coliseum. And at the center, an old looking statue made of what could be steel or stone, stood kneeling with what looked to be a sword in its chest… with something else writhing around it. She looked behind her to see the city was in shambles. Parts of it remained reminiscent of what Vale used to look like. Other parts new. Churches, towers, what looked like entire castles had been merged within the city in a miss match of catastrophe. Bodies littered everywhere, alongside these… These monsters. They looked like people, long dead covered in dull grey skin and almost unrecognisable facial features. Did they even have eyes? They carried knives, or something at least sharp and broken. Some with lanterns, some with shrouds covering all but their face, others with old defeated looking armor made of chains.

The sky above was forever grey with the moon shattered above. One of the monsters screamed an unnerving scream that made Ruby's blood run cold. Looking back to the statue it wasn't as intimidating as the other option behind her. Looking to it once more it looked like it was forced into the ground shattering what used to be beneath it. And surrounded with coffins…

"Oh god…" Ruby whispered to herself. "What world have i been brought to", not wanting to believe this was her own.

 **Ok. I think that's going to be it for now. For a first chapter of my first story, I think i did okay. 2K+ words may not be a lot to read, but it's a lot to type. This draft is like 7 pages long. Anyway if you did read, please, criticism is welcome as i want to do good. I thought this idea for this story not too long ago, and this was the only idea i actually got around to writing about. Anyway, it's harder than it looks, but i'll do it again. At least if someone likes it. Like i said, I'll need help with this. With only myself to read before posting each chapter, i hope yall will let me know how to make it better. But that's it for now. And in case you couldn't tell, Ruby is heading toward Gundyr. Now i have only one question, should their weapons be replaced with dark souls equivalent weapons? I think it'd be pretty cool to have them mix it up with dark souls weapons, but idk how a community would respond to that. Same goes for idk armor of some kind from dark souls. There's certainly a lot to choose from.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So initially while writing this i tried to keep an open mind. I looked up some writing tips for fiction in particular aaaaaaaaand they're the exact opposite of what I'm doing. Talk about a blow to… honestly idk. I would say self esteem but it's not that. It's like putting a lot of effort into a drawing and then ¾ of the way through a famous artist comes up to you and says "You're doing it wrong", and it sucks because you really like your god damn picture. Like you want that shit put up on the fridge. But i'd have to put it up myself as my parents were less than present in most positive ways. Yay me. Anyway the tips consisted of not planning out your ending ahead of time, keep your plot open minded as possible, anything that is of the same genre well, just, just stop with that all together. My creative image kinda stuck from thinking of an epic ending to an unknown tale, then write the story into that ending. So, I kept my way instead. Writing a story without direction is like improv. While it can be seen as a talent if pulled off correctly, eventually with too much exposure becomes dull. And if not pulled off correctly is just seen as incoherent. I think the journey is a better experience than the ending. So already having that in mind, i plan to write a fucking awesome journey until that point. Also i have a specific source for inspiration. I don't have the ability to pull it out of my ass and slap a corresponding label on it that's so bland as bioshock infinite's ending (yeah yeah shots fired go cry about it). I experience one awesome thing, like rwby, then another, like dark souls, and think of the awesome things they have in common, and in some cases don't. Then, i put those awesome things together. Also, music. Music helps. I'll talk more at the end. I won't include author's notes in the total word count. All rights reserved. I don't own RWBY or the Dark Souls series. If i did we'd have more games by now. But idk that stuff takes things i don't have so maybe not. Some things will have to be explained as the events that follow kind of follow the flow of logic. Let's go.**

"What world have i been brought to"

I want this to be some kind of dream. It seems to unreal. Events like this are only told in fiction. Even for a world filled with souls, grimm, and semblance, even this seemed to far a stretch. We have proof of gods, and even our own soul. So that proves there's something beyond the physical world. Right? Now isn't the time for childish ambition. But still. This is something that should just **never** happen. It's tragic, right? Something as otherworldly as this is what's supposed to happen in fairy tales so that some hero can rise above and conquer it right? But that's just it. For something so horrible to overcome, it has to have struck struck already. No… no loving god would do this. This was something horrible. That makes it all the much worse. In reality, there'd be no dragon to slay for burning villages. There'd be no which needs saving after someone threatens to destroy it. There'd be no murder to unravel no matter how interesting the mystery. No matter how hard i try, no matter how good the ending in this story is, this will always be a horrible, horrible thing. It's best to not live in a world of fiction. And i can never change that.

I felt something fall off my cheek. I rubbed my face to see what had fallen.

 _Tears_

My breathing hitched.

The signs of humanity. At least I still have that. This world belongs to that still. Right? There were bodies everywhere. I'm not sure which is worse. The constant red of the ground below them, or how grey everything looks now that everyone's gone.

 _No. Not everyone._

I looked up in whatever reserved feeling i had left. Maybe it was courage. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it's the feeling of having nothing left. Of being the _only thing_ left. Whatever it was, it burned. It burned like a fire, and drove me toward what's left of the colosseum.

 _I won't let this world change me_

I started breathing again. I took a step into a new world, and decided to run. If i'm going to step, i might as well leap. I still have this feeling. And as long as it's with me, it'll carry the rest of me with it.

Ruby took off toward the colosseum. Her drive carrying her ever faster.

 _Oh young one. You've already changed so much._

Her boots skidded across the floor entering the arena. The ground being covered in so much debris, ash and dirt not helping her stop. Equipping crescent rose and shifting her weight her body came to an abrupt stop which would've tripped her had her weapon not been anchored into the ground. She looked to her weapon. If the devastation to this world was as large as she thought, there's not a chance the moon would be put back together that she will have enough ammo. She readied the mag and checked her weapon, yanking it from the ground.

 _Better make these count._

She examined the area. It's so oddly fitting for being so malformed. The place was ripped in half after all. But whatever had done that had also put these tombstones and coffins everywhere. Whatever that should be is a force to be reckon with. She approached the statue. It too looking like it belonged it this mess of what used to be. She grimaced as she looked at the black mass protruding from it's apparent sword through it's body.

 _Is that alive? Maybe it's an infection._

She frowned.

 _Please don't let Weiss be right about zombies…_

She steeled herself.

 _Weiss. What would she do if she were here?_

She kept looking at the mass.

 _She would neutralize this so that if somebody else saw this, they wouldn't get. She'd make sure_

Despite being team leader, she looked up to her team in many ways. They were a team. And they wouldn't function if there best attributes weren't acknowledged. She examined the sword. It was coiled oddly enough. What kind of weapon smith made this? Swords were meant to have edges to inflict damage with. Having the edge coiled around the entire blade was just impractical. It'd be very hard to cut clean through as intended, unless maybe it was thrusted straight into someone like a spear. She looked up at the statue again.

 _Oh. That's exactly what happened. Oh well._

She firmly grasped the sword.

"Better start with this…", she said reassuring herself.

She anchored crescent rose behind her. Now holding with two hands, the small girl pulled and nearly fell back as it shifted making a slick sound.

"Ewwwww…"

She pulled again, this time all the way until the sword had come completely out. Not wanting to hold it anymore she dropped it and stepped back a step brushing her hands off on her 'combat skirt'.

She froze mid brush as she heard a sound escape the statue.

 _Chunk-clink_

It was as if something stiff had just cracked within the statute itself. She slowly looked up as the writhing of the black mass grew louder. The tendril like thing grew in size and flailed frantically. Ruby took another step back to her weapon, grasping it in one hand ready for it to pounce. Until it stopped. It suddenly shot back into the statue as if something had frightened it.

Ruby relaxed and put her hand on her stomach. "Phew", she breathed. That could've been bad. She didn't know what that thing was or if she could kill i-

 _Thudthudthud_

Her face paled as she looked up in fear. That statue just stood up and grabbed a halberd several times the size of herself. Some of the black substance had fallen out of the wound and splatted onto the ground. With a groan it yanked the halberd out from the floor itself and turned to ruby almost mechanically. For a moment it did nothing and she thought for a split second: _Maybe it's nice_

Then it raised the halberd over its head and brought it down in a huge overhead strike. She dodged right, unsheathing the end of her scythe from the arena. A splash of water kicked up from the bricked mashed into the floor. How had she not noticed that until now? There was water encompassing where they stand. She'd have to think carefully to where she stepped.

Thinking of the floor hadn't done her any good as it wasn't an overhead strike. It was a sweep. Ruby was fast enough to dodge and dived right over the weapon. She landed in a crouched position balancing crescent rose's weight above her anticipating the next strike. When the thrust came she was ready and deflected the bulk of the weapon with the midsection of her scythe. Using what little leverage she had against this giant thing she pushed the weapon aside in an effective parry. The weight of her weapon carrying the scythe behind her surprised her. Going with the momentum she did a full 360 degree spin extending her arc slicing right through the abdomen of the armor. Sparks flew everywhere across the cut breaking the surface but not going through. Now facing the statue again she jumped back several feet.

 _Ok MAYBE the road full of a thousand smaller enemies would have been better. But seriously!? This statue is alive and it wants to kill me!_

She dodged again as the statue jumped a good story into the air and came back down just as fast. Now behind the the hulking statue she could see the black mass from earlier protruding from it's back lively as ever.

 _Wait. This thing isn't a statue. It's a suite of armor._

It made a little more sense now. But that would mean the sword was somebody else's attempt at killing that thing. Whatever is inside there is controlling it.

She pulled her scythe into it's sniper rifle form and fired three rounds right into its back. The black mass recoiling as it squirmed in pain didn't seem to stop it in the least. The halberd came across in a broad sweep again as it cleared the area behind its wielder. Finding her farther away than expected he leapt once more into the air and skyrocketed towards her. She back stepped again, but not far enough as he hit the ground harder this time, piercing right into the earth. Shocking ruby from the impact she flung backward into the ground far behind her. Landing in the water her attire was now a little soaked and clung to her skin. Being the first strike to contact yet she was fine but it felt like she was bruised. Aura or not that hurt. It doesn't stop everything…

Slowly getting up she saw him approaching.

 _It moves just like a human. And it fights like one too. Maybe that's a parasite. But still, it's trying to kill me. I need to end this._

Readying her scythe back into it's form she made a dash dragging the scythe behind her and cut into its left leg. Seeing she was successful in breaching the armor somewhat she made another dash for it's right leg. Spinning along with the dash she cut right into its right hamstring and just the back of the right thigh. Now at the 2o clock position of her enemy she attempted a third dash cutting right through its midsection. She was trying to kill it sooner than later. Person or not it's a threat.

Going for the killing blow she readied her scythe behind her she and leapt forward for the final strike, and was caught in the midsection by the blade of the halberd. As it swept her across it's field of view it flung her all the way across the arena. Her head slammed into a coffin. The largest one in the arena in fact, as the top lid moved slightly with the sound of a dragging stone as she slumped on the floor..

Getting splashed again was the least of her problems as she faced the pain from her head trauma. She was luck he swung it that direction rather than toward the cliff edge. Dazed and in pain she saw it marching toward her. She readied crescent rose to rifle form and took 3 good aimed shots at him. The first struck the head, the next the heart, and the next the cut through the abdomen. After all 3 had landed the giant enemy had fallen backward in recoil from the shots.

Taking a moment to breathe she inspected herself. Now on her knees she patted all around herself and winced. Right across her stomach the halberd had made a clean gash. It was small as her aura absorbed most of it and she was hit at an angle. The fact it hit her bluntly instead of cutting right through her was probably why she was still alive. Inspecting it just cutting not too far in, she knew the skin on her stomach was still thin and right beneath that was muscle. Seeing the creature in armor rise again, she got crescent rose into rifle form, and fired a charged shot right into its gaping wound in the middle of its abdomen. The shot resonated in her trauma affected head and blasted right into him. Black blood spilled out everywhere as it fell over backwards once again.

Returning her attention to herself once more, she looked to the cut which was currently bleeding. She looked to the armored thing which she had just shot in the same spot.

"Paybacks a bitch", she said grinding her teeth. She was still hurt and needed to close this wound. Looking to her rifle she remembered the shot she just took certainly burnt some heat into the pipe. She picked it up inspecting it seeing how hot it was. Between cutting through armor and that shot it was screaming hot. She shifted the rifle into scythe form exposing the insides of the weapon. After removing the mag she checked once again is the scythe was still hot. Testing it one last time she looked to herself, wounded and bleeding out and dragged the burning end of scythe across her her breathe had done her little as she slowly cauterized the wound and let out a painful, blood curdling scream.

When she was done she finally dropped the weapon and looked at herself. It's not perfect but it'll have to save me for now. Tired as ever and in pain she closed her eyes. This place was brutal. No wonder everyone had died so horribly. It was so dark and cruel. They didn't even have a chance. Hearing a high pitched scream she looked back to the armor, now spewing out mounds of the black thrashing mass. It wriggled and squirmed trying to get out of the armor, more violent in each attempt until it finally took shape. It got up on the armored beings legs and wobbled lashing its head forward finally managing to stand.

It let out another scream of defiance just as Ruby had not a few seconds ago. It charged at a slow pace trying to maintain balance. Seeing it more clearly now it was surely that of an incredible monster. It had glowing red eyes that seemed to be still in the ever shifting snake like head. Small chunks of bone or horn scattered across itself seemed to do the same as they stayed in place of it ever shifting body. It warps and strangles around itself and the armor forming its own mass of a tail behind it. And to the left a claw much more pale than the rest. It reminded her of death, seeing so much of it colored in the bodies. If that was how it got this body she could never let it take her. Not exactly a zombie, but still, she wouldn't want to know what would happen nonetheless. And it was **massive**. Towering over her like a building while she still sits on the ground beneath the coffin.

"If you want to fight, the i won't hold back. GIve it your all", she shouted. Seeing if it were intelligent, she waited for a response, only to hear another scream in its wake. Now gaining slowly closer, it charged with it's massive head, slamming on the ground angrily as it tried to squash her faster. Getting up she stood in pain, her muscles stiff from the injury. Her aura was low or at least would be soon. She needed to end this **now.**

 _This thing clearly dominates the field, but i'm smarter and faster. I can just wait for the right time to strike and i should still be able to end this. But where…_

The opening in the armour served as a weak point it the monster. If she can take out it's legs it would have no base to stand on. Then she could finish it. Still assaulting the ground and kicking water and debris up in every direction she had to get closer to see where its opening was.

Once again slashing forward with lightning fast speed she made an attack at it's head, only slicing into it to find it reformed barely hurt at all. However it was a lot more pissed. It roared it's high pitched roar and began the assault once more. Dashing it.s head right into the ground she dodged left. She saw it bringing up it's claw and dodged right, just missing it. As it swung it''s claw back once more it attempted to backhand her. It being too slow, Ruby managed to get behind it once more. It swung its tail left and managed to wobble back around with it's face smacking into the ground once more where ruby had been. Bringing the head all the way around now it followed up with the claw dragging all the way across her field right to left. Now seeing both shifting to her right she made her move.

After that huge attack the monster had moved too hard and was stuck turning. Now seeing it was backed against the coffin where she previously was, she made a hard dash for the armor. Not going as fast as she could because of the cut, she managed to see it was still holding the halberd.

 _Why in the hell did hold onto that_ , She thought mid dash. Suddenly, it squatted down and blasted itself into the air with it's amazing strength. Going too fast to stop she spun in a 360 to maybe try and catch it. But as she was way too fast she ended up swinging the scythe right into the coffin again. She gasped as she looked up to see it just about to be falling down, and looked to the coffin. Crescent rose was stuck in the stone coffin and wouldn't budge.

"Come on, COME ON!", she shouted in desperation. She looked up it the monster propelled down toward her, still using the halberd! If it didn't crush her, it'd impale her! She looked back to crescent rose and noticed the mag was still under the coffin. Still pulling she reached for the mag. The creature screamed one last time as it was sure to kill her.

Just then she grabbed the mag and loaded it in. With the creature still above her, she front flipped right up onto the back of the scythe, crouched on the bar, and fired. She rocketed off the coffin up into the air, rose petals in her wake. Rotating across her scythe like a gymnast she effortlessly flipped her scythe in position. Then in an instant, spe spun herself backward and sliced a cut straight through the armor, now making in tow. The creature screamed once more as it collided on the ground. It's claws crashed under the coffin causing it to shift and crush right on top of it. Another scream, this time in agony as it was pinned.

Ruby still leapt into the air swung her scythe above and fired off the last round in her mag, and sent herself back down towards the earth. The monster jerking it's hand trying to escape was busy screaming to its heart's content didn't notice ruby appear right in front of it. With a slam the scythe broke the ground, and as fast as it touched, it took off.

 _Slice_

The claw came off.

 _Slice!_

The tail now left squirming on the ground in parts

In a flash of petals she reappeared in front of it once more. The monster now won't stop sounding. Ruby took her time with this strike.

Getting a running start, She dragged he scythe low, sparks flying as it drew near. She swung in front of her, her scythe gaining momentum. Then she spun around completely sending the scythe down over her head, and stabbed the creature right through the bottom jaw. Now presumed not dead Ruby took one final measure. The creature started one last roar of evil, but was drowned out by a dull whir. And just as the creature had tainted the sound with it's voice,

 _BANG_

Ruby fired a charged shot into the creature, and blew a hole in the back of its head.

The head slumped over, defeated ruby flipped back into her signature position. Black blood still splattering everywhere, the mass hastily disappeared back into the armor until it was no more. The two halves of the now broken armor all that's left. Ruby concealed her weapon and approached carefully. Looking at the top half she looked at the halberd.

 _Even after death, you still held on._

This weapon was likely his. Whoever this was.

"I'm sorry you suffered this fate. I don't know what it was like where you came from, but if this was able to happen to you, it must be pretty tragic"

She stared down once more.

"Rest in peace. It's over now" She went to remove the halberd from hand, but in a flash, as soon as she touched it, it all vanished into light itself. Slightly surprised, but not enough after what she had just gone through, she stood, and looked around. As she tried to make her way toward anywhere but here, something happened.

A sound rang from nowhere. A pile of ash sitting where the armor originally sat, pale and lifeless. When had that gotten there. It definitely wasn't there the whole time. Then she saw the sword. It hadn't gone too far during the battle, but it may e damaged. Curious she approached and picked it up, The sword now had a strange glow, almost as if the light were coming from within itself. While not strong it felt... familiar to her. Like there was a piece of it already present the whole time. Looking back at the ashes, she thought, _Well, it's the only thing that didn't disappear yet. It must have something to do with this._

Then she stuck the coiled sword straight into the pile of ashes. What happened next had sewn her fate.

She became surrounded in a burst of light, breaking off her skin just as it did the fire. Doubled over in pain she grabbed at her chest in a panic. She gasped for air but each breathe only hurt that much worse. As she struggled for the pain to go away, hyperventilation took over. It felt like she were drowning on her own breathe. On her knees she looked over the cliff, her hand reaching toward the moon. One of the pieces was shifting back toward the moon. She couldn't see this any longer as she was stunned at the firelight reflecting off of her hand. She felt her aura go back to completely full, as her soul started to warm. And as the rose petals blew through the wind, then inevitably burned. And she blacked out.

 **Okay. So that took longer than i thought. Anywho, the fight looked great in my head. Not sure how i portrayed it, but that's where the criticism comes in. Eventually anyway. If you couldn't tell Ruby has just been embered. This meaning her soul has bonded with the ember. What that means is the she now has both the humanity and human effigy bonded to herself. And because these things are what allow you to become undead, as well as go hollow, Ruby is now cursed. While not undead or unkindled, she does belong to the curse, which now means her soul will defy death as well as the other undead. While you cannot go hollow without the dark sigil, that doesn't mean you have to be dead undead to get it. The ember is a combination of the humanity and dark effigy. As a result you can get the sigil from being remembered and still have never died. Similar to Anri. So while she is cursed, she is not accursed undead. But now that she has the curse, she defies dying due to time, making her basically immortal, UNTIL**

 **The flame goes out and the age of darkness begins**

 **She herself becomes a lord of cinder and burns her soul to start a new age of fire**

 **Someone manages to kill her and take her soul**

 **Until then, this is her loophole. I'm not saying any of the above will exactly happen, but that is the loophole. What sucks about the age of fire is that it's always pointless. If you restart it, the flame burns out without a new lord of cinder and so we will fall into the age of darkness. If you enter the age of darkness the embers of the flame will dance across the land until one finds them again and makes another flame because time goes on forever and these fates are inevitable. Or, in DS3 specifically, you can become the hollow lord and give the fire to the hollows although that changes nothing, or you can take the flame for yourself to do whatever you want with it even though there's inevitably only 2 options ever. But, if you may not have seen in the description,(KINDA SPOILER) there is only 1 lord. And as dark souls 3 has 4 endings, rwby has 4 main characters. Anyway i am tired and will upload this now. And dark souls questions, ask away. Until next chapter. Later.**


	3. Chapter 3

**As it turns out i have load of free time. Not really a good or bad thing per say, but goddamn I am pretty bored. I graduate on the 2nd but don't have to attend since like last friday. Writing this story is good occupation, but geez it takes a lot out of me. Between the time it takes and actually doing it, i may need to space myself out a bit more. Or maybe it'll get easier as it goes. Who knows. One thing for sure is i hate this tiny keyboard on my laptop. I constantly look for mistakes in typing as i often hit more than one key. It's a great laptop it's like brand new. But seriously i could tape pencils to my fingers and type with the erasers and it'd still be easier. Also, sweet. I have fans apparently. *Victory screech*. Besides that, i have the system worked out. Meeting the fire keeper could play out trickily as all of them would have to see her at one point. My intention is to draw out their strength as a character, pretty much working on their own. While not exposing too much of the conflict i will say it's very present. Between the four girls they will all have their own direction, but ultimately are going to meet again. So will other characters. I fully intend to implement team JNPR eventually, but like the show will be focused on RWBY. Also i have an idea in place but i'm not sure to apply it. I could give them dark souls equivalent weapons to their own seeing as though repairing them would be impractical. The hitch in the idea being to have them with the standard weapons found in the game, like in chests or from enemies, etc, or to have them obtained from bosses, of course having the weapons then increased in strength. The possibilities are certainly there, but now that i think about it, they would have to meet Ludleth. Crap. And they will need the transposing kiln. Double crap. Eh, i'll wing it. Let's go. Oh but before that, spacing screen time for each character i haven't figured out yet. I'm thinking like every 2-3 chapters. That seems long enough for something good enough to leave off on. Ok NOW let's go.**

I fell over again. For like the third time since i got here i just couldn't find find the strength. How ironic. The strong member of the group, not fit to even stand up. Gasping, coughing, hacking, dry heaving on my knees. I realized i could never make fun of Jaune again. Motion sickness or not i'm on solid ground. Vomit boy wins this time.

 _Don't think vomit Don't think vomit Don'tthinkvomit_

I vomited. Well if you can even call it that. My body tensed up so hard it hurt until i couldn't move. Then whatever was inside just kind of flew out. It wasn't one of these when you were sick as a kid and you threw up and always felt better, throw ups. This hurt. When you can't get air in or out i guess your body tries to clear the way(A/N: Yes, that's an actual thing. Ever swallow so much water in a pool you automatically throw up? Well it's a lot worse when you're not underwater. If you seriously can't breathe for any reason other than choking or drowning, don't feel scared when it happens. Just thought you should know. It also hurts.). Thankfully i didn't manage to get any on my hair. I rolled over on my side making sure to avoid what i just put on the ground. I clutched my stomach. It felt like tense steel strings replaced my ab muscles and stretched until they broke. I'm pretty sure if i flexed i couldn't feel anything there. I flopped onto my back and looked up at the sky. It looked different. Maybe i'm seeing different on account of less air. What kind of sandstorm was that. It didn't even taste like sand. Why do i know what sand tastes like…? Oh right, the beach with Ruby. My eyes widened.

"Ruby!", I shouted shooting up half way. My body was too tired. I can't think right now. Frantically looking around, i still couldn't see her.

"Weiss?! Blake?!". _Nothing…_

I'm still light headed. At least i can breathe now. I need to save my strength for a sec. I looked around again. I don't recognize anything. I was at the place with our team… Where the heck was that. Oh right. The stadium. Then… all that happened. I didn't imagine that. It's not possible. But the sun went out too. Should that even be possible?

I finally stood up, albeit slowly. There was some kinda grey dirt on my clothes… and my skin. Goddammit. The cost of putting effort into looking nice. I burst into flame quickly trying get this off me. It didn't get as much as i would have liked. I'd have to deal with it. I'm surprised i can see anything when there's no goddamn sun. The entire sky is just patches of clouds and a grey sky. I think i can see the moon.

The wind picked up strongly. There was a roar through the sky and suddenly it happened. A piece of the moon shifted back into place. It resonated with a loud boom. I stood in shock. Whatever was happening was affecting the world in a bigger way than i thought.

I looked down at ember celica and checked her rounds. I had plenty of my normal shells and just a few more explosive rounds on me. Shifting them up my wrist i realize i should probably get moving. I don't really know what killed everyone else here but i had a feeling i was gonna find out. Wherever my team went i know they can fair better than the unfortunate souls lost here. More than the others i worry about Ruby. As ambitious as she was she can get ahead of herself. Or maybe that's just me being a protective sister.

 _I hope you're okay._

I have confidence in my team. I know they'll have confidence in me.

I pumped my fists together. "Ready for anything."

At least i hope.

 _The flame is bright within her hope. But like hope, the flame that shines twice as bright, burns twice as fast. She will forever seek more to burn, as the flame in her heart is never ending._

Looking around yang took in the scenery a little better. If you could call it that anyway. She didn't recognize the area specifically but could see it looked loosely like downtown vale. Or what's left anyway. The large buildings once towering over in what used to be a lively area now looked crumbled, broken and leaning over until…

There looks like some kind of huge land mass just crashed right into what's left of the buildings. Noticing where she was she could easily tell she was on a street, although now broken beyond repair. The land above part rock and the now collided buildings. She turned around.

Behind her the street extended shortly until it broke off completely. Pavement cracked and misshapen and just flat out broken until there was nothing. Just a street made cliff and endless fog. Looking back to the land above she felt oddly beneath everything. She was on what she thought was the surface street of vale, and now there was a new surface so far above her. She was basically in a crevice of the earth now. A ravine that just touched down to what used to be. That made her not want to guess what's even below the cliff behind her. As above the ground, as below the world.

The trench she was in extended further, but the only reason she could see it was the light above her. On the surface there appears to be a huge crack aligning the exact direction of the broken street before her. Then what appears to be a bridge. Between not feeling safe, or not feeling able to reach whatever waited up there by the buildings, she felt continuing into the street before her was the better of the ideas. At least she could see in the darkness of the trench.

She took not even a full step before she heard something. A slight crack sounded as some dirt fell from above. A woosh sounded as something fell through the air, Yang had just enough time to dodge as something crashed into the ground behind her. She spun around mid dash and fired off two rounds in her attackers direction. What it was surprised her. Her eyes widened not seeing a grim.

It was a humanoid of some sort, wearing some light pink or what used to be red rags. It's skin was colored of something that died. Oddly enough it tried to crush her with a giant… pot. Not a weapon she was used to seeing.

It gave a gruesome roar that honestly sounded more like a groan from some demonic figure. It was unnaturally low. Whatever it was wasn't human. Too surprised it didn't break its legs upon impact she didn't dodge when it threw the massive pot at her. Keeping her guard up she managed to take the hit without too much trouble. The pot broke into chunks and pieces when it hit so it was thrown hard no doubt.

Her semblance kicked in and she ran forward. From behind its back it pulled out a giant saw blade. It was obviously a weapon as it looked too large to use practically. Also not a weapon she was used to seeing. It swung the blade in a quick sweep. Yang slid just underneath the blade directly under the being. She shifted into a crouch, jumped, and gave it a powerful uppercut and unloaded a shell into its head. Staggering backwards and surprisingly not dead it retaliated just as fast.

Griping both sides of the blade it smashed it down in an attempt to kill her. Yang dashed backwards as it kept moving toward her slamming it down where she had previously been. IT appeared to be getting tired and finally slammed, unable to lift it as fast as it wanted to. Yang advanced as it yanked the blade out of the ground slowly. Just when it gave loose Yang's left foot appeared right on top of its right hand ,forcing it back down as she jumped up and scissor kicked it right it the face. Flipping back she fired into its chest three time propelling herself farther into the air. Her dexterity paying off from watching Blake.

Still recoiling it lifted the saw blade with one arm it attempted to cut hr out of the air, using it like a giant butchers knife. Firing two shots behind her she double jumped directly over her attacker. Turning her back over, she swung her fist shifting her mass around and drove her fist downward. The thing giving its low roar of defiance as the saw slammed down too soon before it reached her. Yang dived straight into its chest, and drove the creature on its back into the pavement beneath. Kneeling with her gauntlet cratering into its chest, black blood seeping out of the huge wound.

It gave one last angry grunt before yang fired another shell into it's already bleeding wound and shot her fist out of it's body. The pavement beneath her cracked some more as the crater grew around it. Huffing, she stood up and stepped back trying not to trip over it's body. Now that it was dead, Yang looked over what just happened. The thing dropped who knows how many hundred feet trying to crush her with a massive pot. He then threw it at her after taking two shotgun shells,then an uppercut to the head with another shell, a scissor kick to the head, three more shotgun shells, a ground pound causing a crater in it's chest, and another shotgun shell until it died.

Whatever the hell it was, she hoped she wouldn't run into more of them. Killing them wasn't a problem as she only got hit with a giant pot, but they took a lot of ammo to kill. It didn't help that she needed to save those shells. It seemed like punching the thing hurt it more. The ammo entering it's body didn't even seem to phase it. She'll have to punch harder next time.

She checked herself. Black blood stained part of her right arm where she ground pounded into the thing. Disgusted she tried her best to get it off, but the only thing to brush it off were her clothes, and the dead things clothes. This wouldn't be a problem if this were a grim. The blood would just turn into smoke with the rest of the body. This thing definitely was not a grim. It's thick flesh definitely not disappearing.

Sighing she did her best not to let the blood get in her weapon. If this kept up trying to shoot her way out would be impractical. Taking her scarf, also having a little blood on it, cleaned ember celica. Her weapons were more important than her clothes at the moment. After cleaning she tied the scarf just below her right shoulder. She still didn't want something with blood on it near her face. Wait…

Yang checked her face…

Blood.

"Goddammit!", she yelled in frustration. That meant it probably got in her hair. She went up in flames as her anger was clearly evident.

 _Not even a foot into this place and i already look like i was in a horror movie. Great._

She sighed. Looking good wasn't that important right now She needed to find her team and get out of this trench. Not necessarily in that order. But that's priority right now. She'd save the world after. If possible. But she'd have to conserve her ammo in the meantime. Turning around just in time to bump into something, she braced for another fight.

"Oh", she said. Right there in front of her was the giant saw blade sticking into the pavement. "That could work", she said to herself. She gripped the handle with both hands, and yanked the saw from the earth. Dragging it out of the crevice, she hoisted it up onto her shoulder.

 _It's not practical to use all the time, but it'll help with the big guys. Might save me some ammo too._

She took her jacket belt and fashioned a sling to hold it against her back. She'd have to be careful taking it out. She didn't want to cut her head off. Or her hair. Gripping her hair and moving it front of her left shoulder, she placed it between her upper back and shoulder and her belt, she kept the handle above her shoulder and made sure it didn't move. She'd need to find a smaller temporary weapon in the near future. She'd also need to find a way for her hair not to get cut, but she'll cross that path later.

Looking back into the trench before her, the wind blew in and made it all the more ominous as it echoed. It'll take more than spooky sounds to stop her though. She began her trek into the unknown once more. Unfortunately she hdan't gone very far. The building crush closer together made an end in this direction. To her left, a break in the stone crushing the buildings around her. It almost looked like an entrance to somewhere. It even had stairs leading up to a doorway. But not wanting a building to shift on top of her and crush her in some narrow path seemed a wise caution. To her right, more trench. The trench could only go so far but she wanted to explore all her options before going in there.

She could still see the bridge above her crossing the mouth of the trench. Although it's small, it still looks like somewhere to get to. Someone had to have put it there right? Then again, someone also had to have put stairs into the other way...

 _Then again, there was never a giant land on top of what used to be downtown Vale. And i don't think someone could have_ _ **put**_ _that there. Maybe the rest just came with it. Including that thing i just killed. Yeah. That makes sense._

Listening to her arbitrary reasoning she went right and followed the trench more. This time she kept an eye for anything trying to get the drop on her. Literally. The trench looked the same as the small stretch prior. This giant land crushing buildings close together. It all just looks wrong. The buildings crushed with stone and debris filling the gaps huddling close together. There's no way in, no way out. They weren't even buildings anymore really. Just building blocks for something to be stacked on top of. How they're holding up at all is beyond her. Then again so is everything right now. An attack helicopter could appear at the drop of a hat and it wouldn't be any less surprising.

…

 _Damn. No helicopter._

Ahead of her was the end of the trench. And another doorway leading into who the hell knows where. Sighing, she realized she was running out of options. She was gonna have to go through one door or the other. It looked dark and unsettling. Imagine being in a dark cave, and constantly having the fear that the cave was gonna collapse right on top of you. Now imagine you survive that. Now you're just trapped in a dark cave with no way out. The very idea is why she didn't want to go in there. It doesn't happen every day, but neither does the sun going out, or a continent appearing on top of a city. She may be exaggerating and over thinking things, but she realized she needed to get out of here. If someone put a doorway here, that means they must have made their way down here from the top.

She hoped for the best and walked in. What she saw was disturbing. It was just a large open area below her with rats on the far end. The rats were huge. The size of a big dog almost. There flesh had patches missing from it. Their eyes look almost blind. One could only wonder how the hell they're alive. Among other things. The latter in front of her leading to the drop apparently too high to get back up on their own. Why the hell someone made a square pit for giant rats with ladders going into them made literally no sense. The only reason she could see them was because of the torch at the other end next to the other latter.

"Thoughtful", she said sarcastically.

It was like a pit you'd throw someone into to never come back out. Jumping down she ran to the latter as fast as she could. One of the rats turned around and jumped at her. She dodged to the side and hit the rat hard. It flew into the wall and flopped onto the floor. It's blood splattered onto the wall and dripped down onto it's corpse. Two other rats rushed her. She crossed one with a jab, crushing its head. The other one jumped from the right side and she cross hooked with her right arm. It suffered the same fate as the last.

Hearing two small shrieks she saw more rats entering from some holes in the back wall. She began running again. She would've jumped had she not had a giant saw strapped to her back. Stepping up to the first rung she began climbing up. Hearing another shriek right behind her she looked down. A rat at the base of the ladder was scratching its way up the first rung. She doubted it could climb, but just in case…

She hung off the ladder with two hands and one leg, dipped down and kicked the rat full force in the head. The right side of its face crushed against her boot as it fell over and shrieked until death. Climbing back up the rungs Yang sighed to herself. She was glad those were easy to kill. They almost looked like zombies. She's glad they weren't zombies. They bled everywhere.

She realized she's have to wipe ember celica off again. That will get annoying. She looked up the ladder. It seemed to be a straight shot all the way up. Glad that this place would soon not be her occupation she hauled ass up the ladder and didn't look back down.

Finally reaching the top she grabbed the end of the scarf and wiped her gauntlets off again. As pesky as it was it had to be done. If blood failed her weapons at the wrong time, it could be dangerous. Especially now that she was killing living things that weren't grimm. At least they weren't people. Then she heard something.

"Ahh who is there?"

It was a woman's voice. It was soft and quiet. Although Yang didn't perceive it as a threat, she still readied herself. Everything up till now has attacked her directly.

"Is someone there? Anyone?"

Yang rounded the corner to find a cell to her left. To her right a way out seemingly. But she looked back to the cell. There was no door, but in there was a woman in robes, lying in a corner of the room. Candles lit the area dimly enough so that she could see the woman. Quickly entering Yang wanted to see if the woman was hurt. Being right after the rats srea she expected her to be. She didn't look like she was about to fight anytime soon. She must ahve heard her footsteps because she kept talking.

"Ahh please, whoever you are, touch me", she pleaded.

It wasn't until now Yang got a good look at her. She was pale, skinny and her eyes gone completely blind. The request shocked Yang, but to think of any request she just wanted contact? If this was truly her request, and to be touched was truly all she wanted, she must have been at the end of some seriously tragic fate. Yang was cautious, but if she had gone through something so horrible, she at least deserved a chance.

Yang knelt down and whispered, "Okay."

She reached down hesitantly and stopped when she heard, "The dark surrounds me, nibbles at my flesh. Little creatures, they never stop biting. So please, hold out your hand, and touch me."

Yang knew her sanity must have been slipping from her grasp. She must be delusional to the point of hallucinating. If Yang could provide her some kind of comfort, she would at least try.

"Okay, i'm here", Yang said. As she touched her shoulder the woman sighed in relief. "Ah yes, there you are, so close, indeed. Then I am not entirely alone, just yet. Praise the merciful gods above…", she spoke.

 _Gods?_ , Yang thought.

 _She thanks some merciful gods? After whatever devastated her she wishes to thank them?_

Yang wondered if she knew what happened in the world outside of this cell. What dark era has she come from? Yang stood up and backed away slightly.

"Oh forgive me. I am Irina of Carim. I came to this land so that i might be a fire keeper."

 _What? A firekeeper?_

"Your touch has freed me from the darkness. You are a champion then?"

 _What is she talking about? Was she expecting someone else?_

I am weak, and unfit to tend the flames. But if it might not trouble you, might i enter into your service instead?"

Yang was at a loss for words. She has no idea what she is talking about. Maybe she came with this world too. Maybe this champion she's talking about was supposed to as well. Whoever that is, they're not here. But she does need to know where to go. She's utterly lost here. And it looks like the woman was no better off. It would be best to get her out of here. Yang thinks she could carry her.

"Okay you can help me. But i'm not a champion. I need to find someone. And everything around here has changed. Do you know how i can get out of here?"

"Oh but you are a champion. I can see your soul within the darkness. It burns bright. Brighter than the others. You are untouched by the flame, but it seeks you, so is your fate", Irina said.

"Strange", she continued. "There are other souls, untouched as well. Perhaps much has changed. But fear not champion, no matter how shattered the world, the flame will guide your soul. But i'm afraid here is where your destiny lies. The gods have decided it. Our worlds is one."

Yang stepped back even more.

 _So she knows whats happened to the world? And she can see souls? She must mean aura. Maybe she can see my team!_

"Thank you sweet champion. I shall take my vows. I Irina of carim solemnly swear to serve you", she spoke. With that a wind picked up and swirled around her, and she vanished.

"No wait!", Yang grasped for her. She couldn't hold anything however, as there was nothing to grasp. She was gone.

 _The flame will guide your soul…_ Yang thought. What it meant it didn't know. But she hoped she would soon.

 **Okay. So this is chapter 3. Sorry for not uploading as fast as anyone may have expected. I got injured in a go-cart with my foster brothers and one of their friends. I see now why they had them sign a waiver. Me being 18 i didn't have to, but probably should have seen the possible danger coming. I didn't crash and explode like on nascar, but i messed up my back and my shoulder for a little bit. And while i was sore i didn't get much done. I actually started this chapter the night after i posted chapter 2. So sorry i didn't keep up with my quick pace. Any way in the time writing this i have fixed some of the present plot holes that i may have stated in my note before this chapter started. And don't worry, Yang wont be using the giant saw blade forever. It's just temporary for what's to come. I feel like i hit some of the problems with the weapons pretty well. You can probably tell which boss Yang will face by now, but not before some things happen in the next chapter. I felt like this would be a good place to stop as we just exposed some of the plot to Yang. With the right amount being said before she left, i felt i could build some low level suspense without jumping right into it. You know, make it sneaky. Besides sneaking in some suspense(hopefully), i realized that the area where Yang happened to be placed was actually a lot smaller than i thought. Now don't get me wrong, i wanted to put her somewhere to build plot, but also to push her limits. I realize while i did the same with Ruby, i spent a little too much of the first chapter with exposition as to what started this mess. I hope i don't make Yang's spot in the story as quick as Ruby's time to the encounter. But that's where you guys come in. Let me know how i do with that later. But i actually took a little bit of time as to where to start Yang. I didn't want to start her somewhere far off and have to narrate the countless things she'd have to kill before getting there, but i knew where i wanted her to generally be. Where better than in a deep dark trench. Also I'll be wanting to give them armor. Keeping their normal clothes, at least in Yang's case, is irrational. They's get torn and blood, and eventually become useless. And ya i know that the bonfire repairs that stuff, but cmon. Wearing a jacket that only covers half your body with a skirt with a belt that covers 30% of the surface of said skirt is not beneficial in combat. At least put something to cover your limbs like Pyrrha. She's got that narrowed down. But seriously, it just wouldn't make sense to me. But i'm open minded, so if someone can counteract that point besides saying it'd make them lighter, i may reconsider. Also Yang's hair may be a problem. I feel like it might just get cut or burned or blown off by something if it's exposed that much. Anyway, until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So this is chapter 4. I've gone through a lot in the past week. You readers probably don't know but I have a rater shitty life. I remember last chapter I put off because i hurt my side racing go karts. Well, yesterday I almost drowned. I was brought ashore by a friend and his son thankfully before my lungs filled with water. Needless to say I threw up A LOT of lake water as well as everything I ate that day. Ever sense I've not felt myself. I'm on vacation with some distant family, and now I can remember why they were distant. Partying, drinking, smoking, making stupid decisions, I've seen it all in the past few days. And that's not who I am. And it's only been 5 or 6 days. I wish I would've reconsidered this. But my love for the family I thought I knew overthrew caution. And now i regret it entirely. So since the vacation I've not been myself, on top of that I feel even worse coming close to drowning. And it's just as bad afterward as it is during the process. Fortunately I remained conscious, but not favorably. So to try and break this feeling from myself, I'm going to push out this chapter tonight. It might take a few hours to finish, but I have the willpower to get it done. As for the capitalization of the letter 'I', it wasn't my intention to make those mistakes. You see when typing i look down at my keys when typing to avoid misspelling. So the little things like 'I' tend to get away from me when looking for the red lines that identify spelling errors. Surprisingly docs doesn't recognise lowercase 'i' as an error. I thank you for saying the rest is void of mistakes and how that's amazing, but unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to hold that reputation. The more material to write, the more room for errors to appear. I call it the Simpson's effect. The Simpsons being the longest running show to date, has been terrible compared to it's prime age of televising. Simply put, the longer the show kept airing, the more likely they are going to produce bad episodes over time. There are some shows that surprise me as long as they've run, like Red vs Blue in particular, as it has 15 seasons now. Some may disagree, but the show is innovative on a new level to appear entertaining from season 1 all the way through till 15. Like Eminem. His old hip hop stands out as great from his old school rap like infinity in 1988 even to his more recent work. Although i didn't really like campaign speech, I still think he will deliver in his album to come for 2017. Anyway that's just some media communication for ya. The point is I'm not too confidant that my work will hold up against the test of that effect. I'll try my best though. Alright, let's go. Oh I may be starting another story soon. Just as long as the drive returns. Ok, now let's go.**

Yang stared into the corner. Not even a minute ago she was talking to Irina. Then she just disappeared. Not even a trace of her left but the riddles she left in Yang's thoughts. She offered help, but what exactly she helped with was unclear to Yang. It cleared the minimal things about what was happening between the two worlds, but otherwise was just too unclear. Something about flames and fire stuck out in her words. It was just too vague, too indirect. Or maybe it was the exact opposite.

 _Can it actually be that simple? Look for the flames? They will guide me?_ , the thought wandered in her mind unresolved. She would have to keep moving. There would be no point staying here pondering. She can figure this out along the way. Or maybe after. But she needed to leave.

Sighing Yang turned around and walked to the door frame behind her. It was a simple barred door made to fit the stone frame. Getting frustrated at the lack of sense of whatever was placed here. Stairs in a trench, ladders in a rat pit, a barred door in a small room about the size of a large hallway. None of it made sense.

 _Who the fuck put these things here!?_

Kicking the barred door full force it flew open and bent at the imprint of her boot. It wasn't going to be closing anymore.

"Hmm. Another one of those unkindled are you?", someone spoke.

Yang failed to see him prior to breaking the door, so when he spoke her head snapped in his direction, almost hesitant to fight him immediately. Taking a step back she readied herself into a combat stance.

"Relax", the person said in a stern tone. "I'm not here to fight with the likes of you".

Yang slowly lowered her gauntlets down to her side. Whoever this was at least had the intelligence to not attack everything and anything. The voice belonged to an armored individual sitting on the rocks to her right. His armor black as charcoal at most spots. Most areas looked like scales or overlapping pieces of plate. The armor had some loose frays of what she assumed would be a cape, but most of it was around the waist, like an old fashioned cloth for knights. He wielded a massive hammer that no doubt took a lot of strength to wield. Hell even lifting it looked impractical. Nevermind swinging it. Then again, Nora and Ruby also wielded very large weapons. But that was different. Ruby has the advantage of speed making it so she can shift the mass of crescent rose in several directions. And nora constantly used explosives to move around the battlefield, as well as enhance the movement of magnhild. This hammer was literally just a giant hammer.

"A wise choice. You're not unkindled at all are you? No. You're not of the curse. Humanity has yet to taint your soul. No matter. Whichever direction you choose to go, you'll find traces of the flame. Should you be embered, the curse will embed itself in your soul. But i suppose it's miraculous you've stayed alive this long. The rest of the undead are not like you. Not at all."

Yang stared at the man once more. She noticed the helmet from which his voice sounded. T was that of an ancient looking demon. She would have mistaken it for a face had she not noted it didn't move. It wouldn't have been the most unbelievable thing that's happened so far. She decided to pry. Maybe this person could be of more use than Irina. He seemed intelligent enough. And he already knew about the flame apparently.

"Who are you?", Yang asked. Her voice was firm but unthreatening.

"I am Eygon of Carim. So You've gone and rescued the wench have you? Pitiful. I suppose I should be gracious. Sitting here protecting her hd to have come to an end at some point. You know what that's like, don't you? An end to things. You untouched souls, all just waiting for it. You should consider yourselves lucky. Like a frail maiden on the front lines, you're doomed to play the fool like the others. She told you to seek the fire did she not?", Eygon spoke.

Yang was speechless. His words contained nihilism but wisdom. She wasn't sure whether or not to feel offended or enlightened. So she stayed silent.

"So she has. Heed my words. If you've any sense you'll stay away from the flame. The likes of the lord's will either kill you, or turn you undead. That is _if_ you should be able to take their souls. Go find yourself somewhere to huddle up in a corner and pray that fortune may come your way. This world is not meant for you. It's not meant for anyone. Not even her", Eygon said looking into the area where she had just met Irina.

"Now go on, find those who bare the flame. And doom yourself to become an undead. No matter what you take from this world, it will always return from whence it came".

Yang had enough of these indirect words. She wanted answers. Now.

"What the HELL are you talking about?!", Yang said bursting into flames. Her eyes red with rage struck Eygon with hostility.

"I have had enough of this stupid riddle for this stupid fire from before. I don't need you to tell me what to do! All i want is to find my friends and my sister. I don't care about your god forsaken flame or fire or whatever this undead bullshit is you keep talking about. Either tell me how to get out of here, or get something clear to say before i hurt you!"

"You'd be wise to hold your tongue wench! The flame is what keeps the undead. You come from a world where the flame does not exist. Should you take the soul of any who carry the flame, you as well will become undead. Cursed to live this eternity until someone takes your very soul from existence. Or perhaps you'd want this, to be an undead. To be unfit for something such as death. You're just like the rest of them. I'd wager you will take the flame for yourself should you make it toward worlds end. Care not about your friends or sister. They're probably gone already", Eygon said in spite. "Or for worse, they will search for the flame themselves. Just like you."

"Shut up! My friends are better than that! I'm going to find them, and we're going to fix this. And when we do, I'll make sure to see you suffer a fate as depressing as your words!", Yang said marching toward the knight.

Suddenly a white flash broke her vision and sent her back. Getting up off her back, she saw Eygon with his hammer firmly planted into the ground. "Have you gone mad? You would take the flame for such a selfish reason as your own? To fix your world would mean to take the flame for yourself, and burn all that exists in this realm until there is nothing left! You ungrateful wench! The end of fire draws near and you wish to keep what is left of your world? There will be none left to inhabit it! You will all die in darkness until the flame is taken from you. No matter. I will ensure you will not make it to the first flame. Your journey will end here", Eygon said as he swung where Yang had been before. Yang sprung back away from the hammer.

Eygon withdrew his hammer to his shoulder and slowly made his way toward Yang. "I, Eygon of Carim swear to end your pursuit to forsake this world for your own", Eygon said coming closer at a running pace. He withdrew a shield Yang had failed to see was on his back. Now wielding the hammer in one hand, and shield in the other, Yang knew Eygon was of great strength. She also needed to watch out for that blinding attack he somehow managed to pull off.

Eygon readied his shield and swung the hammer overhead. Yang dodged right and released a barrage of attacks on his shield. His left arm held against her punches. Yang put a powerful jab right into the center of the shield, pushing her back. She left hooked, but her gauntlets scraped against the shield in sparks. Keeping her momentum she spun clockwise and kept her fist primed to jab right into the shield once more. The shield still protesting against her strength, Yang raised both her hands above her head prepared to bash the shield full force with both hands. Eygon's right foot stepped back and suddenly stepped forward as he swung the hammer right across where his shield was previously raised.

Yang was hit directly in her left side. Her aura flashed as her ribs to her hips were smashed against the giant hammer. Yang spun out of control a few feet back before thudding on the ground and rolling until she hit the rock wall. She slumped to the ground grasping her ribs. They weren't broke thanks to her aura, but it certainly hurt. The sound of Eygon's armored boots approached slowly.

"You pitiful sorry soul. I'll end you quick so you may be reunited with the others you've lost colliding our worlds together." Eygon stopped by Yang still grasping at her ribs in pain. Eygon raised the handle of his hammer above his head, readying to crush her beneath the bulk of the massive hammer. "So long to a dark soul", Eygon spoke once more. Eygon brought the hammer down but was blasted back in an explosion of fire. Eygon lay on his shield on his back, the ground beneath him digging up dirt over the grass.

Yang now stood ablaze against the wall she was just smacked into. The rock and dirt around her now burned and coated back. Her eyes red as rage filled her mind. Her hair on fire only proved it's presence. Her semblance activating returned her strength multiple times over. The damage from the hammer had done alot, and oh was payback a bitch.

Eygon had just gotten up as Yang appeared in front of her. He quickly drew his shield. Yang wasted no time disposing of it. With a couple right hooks she could see he was reeling harder than before. Yang roundhouse kicked the shield and Eygon lost his poise. She stepped forward blasted a shell into his chest full force. His armor withstood the impact but there was likely some damage underneath. Again on the ground his head just a foot away from the stone wall opposite of the one he sent Yang into.

He saw her approaching and went for a shield bash to her midsection. Yang brought her foot up and stomped on the edge of the shield, sticking it into the wall. Letting him stand up Eygon brought the hammer up to strike Yang down. Yang grabbed the bludgeon of the hammer and kicked Eygon hard in the abdomen. Eygon fell to his knees and grunted, likely feeling heavy internal pain. Eygon still managing to hold on to the hammer with one hand while grabbing at his stomach, Yang grabbed the giant hammer by the handle with two hands and flung Eygon from the grasp of his own weapon and tumbling over the ground until he collided with the rock he was once sitting on.

Eygon barely managing to get up readied his fists. Yang, dropped the hastily walked to him ready to end this. He swung one right hook and Yang easily caught it. Holding him by his right fist, she stepped in and headbut Eygon's helmet. It obviously hurt Yang, but she could easily take the hit as she already did with his hammer. Eygon got dazed from the more than powerful impact to his skull. He let out a dazed moan of dizziness and pain. Yang spun him around by his right arm as she twisted it behind his back.

"Ahhh!", he screamed in protest. Eygon was a formidable opponent. But he couldn't account for Yang's semblance enough to kill her. Quickly putting Eygon in an upside down headlock Yang held him as he struggled to move. He grasped at Yang's elbow and shoulder in an attempt to pry himself free. Yang faced everything below Eygon's head as his head was staring at the sky under her right arm. His legs barely held his weight as he grew weaker from the lack of air.

"You goddamned wench! You are the most ungrateful soul that will become an undead!", Eygon managed to say in between gasping for breaths. Yang looked out to the area before her. Below was the trench, forward was the bridge along with the big monster she faced before. There were other things pacing about the road in front of her. She would have to kill them all. She would need to get to this fire he spoke of, and restore remnant to the world it used to be.

"Undead this.", she said as she closed her eyes. She jerked her arms up, and as a loud crack was heard under the armor, she broke his neck. His arm reached up into the sky as his last moment of life faded away. She let his body slump to the floor as it faded into a white light. An indescribable sound was made as the light faded into nothingness. Then Yang absorbed the light that was his soul. He wasn't coming back.

Yang's eyes and hair returned to their normal state. She looked around for anything significant. Up ahead looked like some worn down small buildings of some kind. Then the bridge and what was ahead, which she already saw. Above looked like a big oddly structured building with a trail leading to and from there. She might have to check out the buildings later. But they may be as useless as the rat pit. She turned around and saw the giant church like tower building made of stone brick, as well as the stone brick stairs going to the giant wooden doors.

 _How did I not notice that before? This place had only one way to go until now. Now it has like six. And I was just dropped in the middle of a trench._

Yang decided to head into the church tower. Her first idea was to get to the bridge, but she could deal with that later. Quickly checking ember celica, she dried off the small amount of blood left from the fight. Eygon's armor probably got the worst of it, so he didn't bleed out very much. She didn't feel anything particular for killing him. He was trying to kill her. One of them had to go. It was just kind of a grey area for now. But Yang had killed someone. That wasn't the particular thing huntsmen and huntresses were supposed to be prepared for. Grim were a different situation.

She walked toward the church stair steps. THe doors were big, but wooden. The frames holding them in place didn't look any less breakable than the barred door she kicked to oblivion. But seeing as though she just killed someone out of an angry dispute, she wanted to try a more respectful approach. Especially if it was a church. Making her way to the top of the steps she put her hands to the doors and pushed. They open slowly and loudly as they protested against her strength. She still managed to open them despite being heavier than she expected. Or maybe they needed some oil. Either way she didn't care. They were loud and slow, but they opened.

The inside didn't look to impressive. There were some more steps at the far end, and what looks like some kind of suspension rig. She really hoped wherever it lead to was better than the rat pit. But on the steps that lead to them were a ridiculous amounts of lit candles. Figures. When the world smashes a continent with rat pits and giant undead monsters trying to kill you, it makes sure the delicate candles are still lit upon arrival. Then again, Irina did say something about flames guiding her. Yang picked up a dark age vibe from the encounters she made. If fire was as important as they make it sound, she would hate to see what their world was like before they found it. It almost sounds like something other worldly. Like it somehow has so much more significance than it does in her world.

Yang sighed. This _is_ her world now. Yang looked down at her hands. Just in the short time since the worlds collided, Yang had fought an undead giant saw wielding monster, killed giant rats with flesh falling off and rotting, freed a blind and helpless woman bound by her own delusions, and killed a man. If this was just the beginning of her journey, what did the rest include.

 _This world is so dark. No wonder they focus so much on this flame. There's no sun, the world is populated by monsters and now the living are the rare ones. What kind of world is this. People live forever until another just comes along and takes your soul for themselves. What do they have left to look forward to besides their own death?_

Yang's eye grew a slight shade of blue in their lilac color. Her hands were stained with blood. Dark blood. Some of a human, some of monsters. With any luck, she'd hoped she would be saving lives as a huntress. Now that this tragedy struck Remnant, there may not be much left to save. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a scroll. The holographic phone was somehow still intact. Regardless it was useless except for the offline functions, as she figured the comm towers were probably destroyed. She flipped through her pictures until she found her team. It was the only good one she actually had of her team. Blake had her bow off to the left of Yang and was smiling, which was a rare sight to see as she usually covered her face when reading. Ruby was at Yang's other side Smiling brightly as usual. Her optimism was always present at beacon. And everywhere else for that matter. Weiss was on the far right not looking at the camera but smiling nonetheless. She didn't remember what had made her smile, but she was glad she caught it in the picture. And yang was in between Ruby and Blake with her arm wrapped around ruby, and her right arm holding the scroll at the perfect angle to get the whole group. Yang's goofy smile was fitting as she was laughing during the picture.

It was one of her favorite pictures, alongside team STRQ that Uncle Qrow let her take. All the others either were focused on one person or one of them was doing something else in the picture. It was her team. That's what _she_ had to look forward to. Yang smiled again thinking about her team. They gave her some purpose here. As she was about to put her scroll away she stumbled forward and almost dropped it. Suddenly gasping, she fumbled around with the scroll bouncing around in her hands until she clasped it in between her hands as if she caught a sword. She gave a sigh of relief. She looked at it once more. It was a picture of her mother.

Yang's complexion grew confusing. The only picture she had aside from the one that uncle Qrow had of the team.

"Mom…", she said to herself. That was her previous goal. Finding her mother. In a sense she has. She had saved Yang's life after Neo had beat her. That was her only insight she had as to what kind of person her mother was. She had some threatening reputation to at least scare off Neo. For better or worse, she had done it. But for the wrong reason. At least Yang believed so. Her mother was on an ever sensitive scale. Yang closed her eyes and put her scroll away. She would have to worry about that another time. She wanted to focus on what mattered. Her mom was not as impactful on her life as her team. But if she finds her along the way, she'll cross that bridge at the opportunity.

Yang was at the steps now. The candles lit the steps almost majestically. She wondered what was at the other end of the rig. Wherever it went was where she was going. At least for now. With no direction and no sense of surrounding, Yang prepared to jump into the unknown. And just as she took her first step up, The platform lifted off the ground. Both curious and surprised, she quickly hastened up the small stair steps and to the platform. She wasn't fast enough to catch it however, but was surprised when another came up from the hole below. And the person that came with it.

"Hmm… Mmmmmm… Hmm... Mmm… Oh! Pardon me, I was absorbed in thought."

 **Alright that's it for this chapter. I do realize not a lot happened in particular in this chapter, but it was something i did plan out. Yang's actions will affect her character, and as such I decided to provide that action at this opportunity. Of all characters I think Yang her the most open personality. Between all her anger, joy, sadness, and carefree attitude, I think she displays the most emotion that she actually feels. Blake seemed to be the opposite until volume 4 where she now has the skin tone of a marshmallow and the facial expression of Fox Mccloud. Anyway I am doing better now that I've returned to the story after this time. Other than that i don't have a lot to say this time at the end, but I did state I may want to start another story. Now I won't pick that up immediately as i think doing two stories at once while trying to maintain certain things may get problematic. I do realize people do it all the time, but I am new to this stuff, and I do want to keep things simple until I can get to a better pace. The idea for the story is not related to either dark souls or rwby but thought i should put it out there should it ever happen. Anyway, it's late and I'm gonna upload this now. Later.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay so I'll keep this one brief since I don't want my notes taking up a considerable amount of space in the chapter. I know although the last chapter met my minimal quota for a chapter, not a lot actually happened. Yang had some developement, killed Eygon, looked around, and then was about to meet you know who (onion bro). I've been actually feeling a lot better now that my vacation is over (Not really it's just taking place at home now. God i love being back in the city. Seriously, New Hampshire sucks). Anywho, I took some time to pay attention to some other shows and games to undo some blockage for this story. I got an awesome idea and I'll throw it in in the future. I've also decided to start putting in some Mix mashed areas of Remnant more often, seeing as though Yang is currently in a dark souls area, right on top of a rwby area. That may have been me being in a rut for where to put Yang, but I wanna get creative. That's about all I got for now, I'll see if i get anything by the end of the chapter that's note worthy. Also, I understand how writers feel when considering to kill off a character. It seems like a good idea, but you have to consider how it will affect the fans. I don't have many right now, but know, I'm thinking about ya. Also dying in dark souls is a hit or miss thing so there's something to think about, Ok let's go.**

Yang stared at the character before with a blank expression. She couldn't see his face, but could tell from his voice he was more curious than threatening. Also, something about this person seemed adorable to Yang. Between looking like an onion and having such a particular accent, Yang had fun imagining him in chibi form. Although clumsy and charming in her mind, she had to note that he was also wielding a giant sword. It looked as though it had an extra hilt about a head above the actual hilt, but Yang quickly saw it was actually part of the blade.

"Hmm… Mmmmmm… Hmm... Mmm… Oh! Pardon me, I was absorbed in thought."

Yang still looked at the person with her blank face.

"I am Siegward of Catarina. To be honest, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Have you ever walked near a white birch, only to be struck by a great arrow?"

Still with a blank expression, Yang kept staring.

"Pardon me miss, but are you alright? You appear to be in a bit of a daze", he asked with genuine concern.

Yang finally broke her blank stare. Her thin neutral frown twisted into a puffy smirk as she held back inevitable laughter. Yang erupted into a fit of laughter for no apparent reason as Siegward now stared at her. She couldn't see his face well through the small slit visor of his onion helmet, but if she did it wouldn't be as funny. Yang continued to laugh stupidly as she covered her mouth in an attempt to hide it even though it was obviously loud. Quickly giving up she wrapped both arms around her stomach and doubled over. Finally dying down she looked back up at the onion knight in awkward silence.

Fearing she may have insulted him on accident, she hid her face under her hair dropping her head.

"M-mhm-MHMhmhmhm Ahhhh hahahahaha!", Siegward himself erupted into laughter as he lifted his head and and grabbed what Yang could only assume was onion armor covering his stomach. Looking back up at Siegward, he met eye contact for a split second, before they both began laughing their lungs out again. Yang was close to rolling on the floor laughing while Siegward just stood there laughing up at whatever. Yang eventually ran short of breath and slowed down her laughter. Siegward did the same, all though he stopped faster. Offering her an armored hand, she grabbed it and pulled herself up

"UhHUh", Yang cleared her throat. "Thanks", she said

"But of course. Although i must ask, what has you sending so much breathe about in such a manner?", he asked now having the opportunity to talk.

"You look like an onion" she said giggling a bit still.

"Wha- Oh! Yes I suppose I do. But don't underestimate my armor's appearance! This is the armor of a Knight of Catarina! And i wear this armor proudly on behalf of my people", Siegward said with pride filling his voice. Yang felt some relief. This could have escalated quickly like Eygon. She was glad it didn't come to that.

"So why did you start laughing?", Yang asked.

"Well, laughter is very hard to come across nowadays. Such joy should be embraced with friends and acquaintances alike! Besides, it's been some time since i've last done it myself. My thanks to you", he said offering his hand.

Yang gladly gripped his armored hand."Yang", she said shaking it.

"Very well, Yang. A pleasure to be acquainted. Now I am stuck in quite a pickle still! Perhaps, you may be able to solve this with me. You see, on my way here I came across a white birch and was struck with a great arrow! Well, if I'm not mistaken, they come from this tower. Whoever it is, I'm sure I can talk some sense into them. But I have to find a way up, and that's just the trouble. This lift only goes down, you see, and… Well, that doesn't get me anywhere...Hmm... Mmm..."

And just like that, he entered a state of what Yang didn't know. He kept humming while looking to be in thought, but he didn't seem to stop. Not wanting to stop him Yang decided to just go ahead and fix this problem on her own. Looking up she saw many wooden platforms and ropes above, including the one that rose up as Siegward appeared. Looking at the platform in front of her she didn't see much to activate the contraption to send it down. Seeing no problem so far she stepped on and kicked it. Surprised by the sudden jolt she quickly stepped off as the center of the platform suddenly sunk in flush with the rest of it… somehow. Yang watched in confusion as it lowered into a hole that was deeper than expected. Perhaps even lower than the rat pit she guessed. She looked up, and just as she guessed, the platform came back down.

"Hey-", Yang was about to call for Siegward when she saw him still standing in the same position. _Maybe he's asleep_ , Yang thought looking back over her shoulder.

 _I think I can handle this_

Yang walked up and stepped on the center of the platform as it somehow took her to the area above. _How in the hell_ -, Yang's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a curious hum.

"Hmm…"

Surprised Yang turned around expecting to see Siegward. To her even more surprise there was nothing, even at the bottom of the lift. _What in the hell?_ -, Yang's thoughts were interrupted again as the lift came to a stop. She appeared in the highest point of a tower. The entire area was made of stone brick as far as she could tell. She assumed it took quite a while to build if the only way up was by this lift that somehow works when you step on it. Yang was no wiz with engineering a lift, but something told her that shouldn't be possible. Stepping out of the enclosure of stone brick, she exited through a set of stairs. Casually walking up she stopped in her tracks as she finally saw what Siegward was talking about.

Before her was a giant, literally a giant. Next to him were arrows, or maybe even giant spears. Sets of them just piled and ready to throw. Yang was about to turn pale when it spoke.

"Who are you?", it spoke deeper than a trench. And Yang thought the saw wielding enemy was big. "U-uh", Yang stuttered. "I'm Yang", she said stepping a little closer. This giant has been through some shit as far as yang could see. There were metal stakes impaled into his legs, and even chains stuck onto it. She really didn't think fighting it up here was a good idea.

 _How did he get up here anyway?_

Stepping a bit closer Yang continued. "Um I just wanted to ask if you could stop Throwing those arrows at people? I don't know who you were throwing them at before but I think you may have hurt my friend?"

"Friend?", it said looking down at her.

"Yeah. Friend", Yang said a little more calm now. The giant bent over and pinched something between his finger and thumb and turned around to hand it to her. He held a small white branch in front of her. "Friend", the giant said once more. Yang hesitantly grabbed it and held it as he stood back up. "I help anytime", it said looking back into the distance. Sighing Yang held the branch close to her. She was glad to not have to kill it. It was just a big friendly giant… that happened to try and kill things with giant arrows. "Thank you", Yang said.

Now about to head back down to find Siegward, Yang followed the giants gaze. "Oh no…", she whispered. For the first time Yang could see the most of the city. Buildings collapsed everywhere, the forests were on fire and anywhere you could actually see streets or sidewalks they were covered in blood. It looks like grim have just arrived in certain parts of the city ready to finish off what the new monsters couldn't. Bodies were littering the area per foot and it looks like they were dead for a while now. The sight took everything from her world. No crying. No screams. No life.

Humanoid creatures stalk the land with clothes worse for wear with whatever they could find as weapons. Further into the distance towers erect into the sky, castles broke the city that once was, and everywhere was a gloom. Yang's hope dwindled as she watched her city die. Not wanting to watch anymore Yang dropped the branch, and stormed off down the stairs to the lift. Stepping on the lift she started the descent when from the corner of her eye she spotted sigward.

"Hmm…" plagued her ears again in confirmation of what she saw.

"Wait- wha-", she tried to make sense of how he got there. As the platform passed her head she jumped. The lift kept falling as her hand clung on to the wooden board. "Shit", Yang said as she realized she could've just taken the lift back up. Yang looked up at the wooden platform she was clinging onto and threw her left elbow on top trying to get her waist above the platform. Unfortunately the position she was in made it awkward, until a hand stuck in front of her face.

"May I be of assistance?", Siegward proposed, his hand waiting. Not taking the time to give an answer she grabbed his hand and he easily pulled her up. She would've grabbed onto him but his armor made the option impractical, so he just held onto her hand and pulled her back until she was securely on the planks. The platform creaked under their weight and Yang took that as a sign to get off and onto solid ground. She quickly stepped off and onto the stone where she saw Siegward sitting.

Siegward plopped back down next to her resuming his sitting."Don't disappear like that. You had me downright worried. But thanks to you, an epiphany has struck me square in the head. I've unravelled the riddle of this inscrutable lift!", he said in a fit of laughter.

Yang opened her mouth in utter shock and confusion, but just couldn't speak.

 _How, the HELL, did he do that! Did he climb up here? That armor is heavy! Or is it thin like sheet metal? It has to be heavy! Onions have layers! Armor has layers! This doesn't make sense!_

"What!?", was all she said. She was positive she was the one who solved the mystery lift. Furthermore in the time she was up there the lift never moved! How in the fuck did he do it?!

"On some days, I begin to doubt myself. I went up the tower, so I thought, then somehow ended up here", he said once more. I'm not exactly sure what happened.

"OH come on!"

"Anyhow, do you see that? That humongous beast. I'm no coward, and I've a steady hand, but that thing makes my skin crawl. Now, now, think twice before you go down that road."

"T-tha-t-t-WHAT?! That's it? You're not gonna tell me how you-"

"I could try talking some sense into him...No, I think not. He's far too over-heated. I've got to use my head. And think. Hmm... Mmm..."

Yang threw up her hands in amazement. He was in another daze. "I give up!", she shouted. Flopping her arms down by her side she calmed down and turned to see what her friend was talking about. Below her looked to be a roof for whatever reason. The blue shingles looked like they had been there for ages. But below that was a drop to one of the freeways that connected to what used to be downtown remnant. There was little that she could see below her after the roof. Just below it was the drop to the freeway. She assumed it was destroyed to some extent the further it stretched behind the tower. If she hopped onto the roof maybe she could see if it could somehow go the other way.

Along the strip of freeway that she could see were cars destroyed, burning in groups and pile ups. In the middle was a huge stack of burning cars and their remnants, somehow still burning amongst the other piles. But it looked like it was deliberately piled up and set ablaze. It stretched at least 3 stories and every story still burning. The freeway pavement cracked and sloped in ways that would make it look unstable, but apparently formed a suitable terrain for the beast roaming down there. Piles of debris and pavement and rubble stacked up to the size of buildings and formed a narrow path to a small tower that the stretch broke off onto and looked like it was going to collide right into. Then it was gone. Somehow the remainder popped out of the world just as the towers popped in.

The beast roaming below was terrifying. It was no creature she had seen before. It was ever lasting on fire. It's skin looked like charred bark of a tree, the color of the broken pavement it crushed below it's feet. It had 4 glowing red eyes and a jaw that resembled something reptilian yet short. It's head covered in a crest of outgrown branches of what she assumed could only be part of it's skull. In the center of the uneven tree like crest rested a flame that seemingly came right from the inside of it's head.

It's back hunched over and just as mangled a mass of tree like branches as it's head. It stopped around an oddly long tail proportioned to its body. If Yang had to guess it'd be just for balance. Its limbs looked the most normal compared to a humans, it's knuckles standing out in its thick charred skin. It's chest big compared to it's lower body which carried legs like a large toed and clawed reptile bent into shape to support its massive weight. And lastly in its large chest, between the pectoral area was a core flame that looked to be the center of its power. It held onto a weapon that matched its appearance. It looked like a giant axe made of the same matter as the creature. Just before the blade of the axe, the flame seeped from a huge mass almost making the giant axe look like a massive flaming club.

Yang had stared for longer than she thought, as the creature disappeared behind its massive pile of burning cars. The creature would surely roam near eventually. And when it did, it would rip the side of the tower they were resting on straight off. Yang took in every detail as she assessed the situation. They had no way to call the lift back to send them down, and the stretch of broken free way only goes toward the flaming monster. Their only exit being the tower that rested just at the edge of the broken freeway.

"Siegward", Yang suddenly spoke.

"Oh! Yes? Have you devised a plan?", he said suddenly perking up.

"What exactly is that thing?", Yang asked watching as it reappeared from behind the car pile.

"Hmm. Well i haven't seen many like it's kind at all. But from its stature and the nature of the beast's abilities, I'd say this is a fire demon", Siegward deduced.

Yang's eyes widened at the answer she received. "A demon?", she said barely in a whisper. Demons were almost non existent in remnants history. The souls dropped from the world above that hit the ground of remnant. And those that didn't fested beneath in the world of fire, forever tainting their soul in evil spirit thriving in the fires of everything that was evil, never knowing anything but the fear, anger and hate the eternally plagues their minds. And that part of history was nearly erased from culture when the age of aura was discovered. The proof of the existence of souls and their capabilities long since put the fear of demons away. But this was different. This was a monster created from evil, and it's soul was thriving in the fire that was its existence. Yang hoped this wasn't the fire Irina was speaking of.

"Yes, this one is a fire demon. One of the more powerful kinds that draw power from their flame directly. These creatures of chaos have nearly ceased to exist as the age of fire draws endlessly near", Siegward said. "This one managed to survive."

"Chaos?", Yang asked. "Does that mean there is a different flame? One not evil and can turn my world back into what it used to be?"

"... So you know of the flame…? Is that what you wish to reach?"

Yang looked at Siegward uncertainly. She had been warned about this. "Yes", she said. "If it can save my world, or at least bring back what was taken from it, then yes. I need to find this flame. I need to find a way to save everyone. If not them, then… then…", Yang paused on the verge of emotion too strong. "Then i can at least live in the world i grew up in. Not this mashed together nightmare."

Siegward stayed silent. Slowly he stood up, and put his hand on Yang's shoulder.

"Yang. If this is your true destiny, I, Siegward of Catarina, hereby swear to aid you for this quest. There are many others seeking the flame, but this is a most epic, and truly noble duty to fulfill", Siegward paused. Yang turned around to face him with awe in her eyes. "Our duties are far too different to see their ends together, but until our fates are untangled, I shall help guide you to the flame!", he said offering his hand. Yang looked down at his armored hand. It was symbol of promise.

"Okay", Yang said gripping his hand with excitement. "And I'll help get you to wherever it is you need to go too. At least until I can." Siegward let go and offered Yang something in his other hand. "A Catarina Knight never breaks a promise", he said guiding the item into her hand. She didn't pay it any mind as it was wrapped in a pale cloth.

"Aw, no need to be dramatic onion bro", she said accepting whatever it was he just gave her. She unwrapped the cloth to find an ember, although very large and oddly shaped. Yang's eyes widened again as she looked at the item in her hands. Strangely it didn't burn her hand, and instead seemed to glow ever so slightly brighter the longer she held it. "Onion bro.. What is this?", she asked.

"Hold it high above your head, and embrace it in your hand", he instructed. Yang did as instructed. "Do you truly wish, to be guided to the first flame? This is a fate most treacherous, it may even put you in this cycle of torment, as unkindled like I, must endure until our duty is fulfilled", Siegward asked.

"Yes", Yang said with determination in her.

"Very well", Siegward said grasping the open side of the ember. He grasped the other side of her hand, and crushed it into her palm. Yang stopped breathing. She grasped at her arm as the fire spread through the inside of her arm as it spread into the rest of her body. Her hand grasped at her chest as she felt her soul set ablaze. The fire spread through her until it reached her eyes, then shot out her body in an explosion of fire.

Siegward stepped back and shielded his eyes from the light, despite looking through a tiny slit. The light left and revealed Yang on her knees, both hands grasping at her chest.

"Yang? How do you feel?", he said looking upon her. He saw her head bowed, slowly rising meet his gaze. Her eyes were closed, but her body glowed just as the ember had before. Her hair was crackling alive into fire, but this was different. The fire grew alive, and smoke rose from her light, until it was no more.

Yang slowly stood until she moved her hand to grasp the saw blade behind her. Unsheathing it from its makeshift strap she drew it to her side, and the end of the blade dropped to the stone brick ground beneath with a dull 'tink'. She grasped the handle with both hands and hefted it onto her shoulder, the blade now having the same dim glow as the rest of Yang. She finally opened her now red eyes to meet his gaze. She uttered only two words as sparks gusted around her.

"I burn."

Just then the demon let out a loud roar of defiance. It didn't matter if it had spotted them. They would have to kill it eventually. She turned to see the demon looking right back up at her. Yang's ember celica activated while holding the giant machete like saw blade. "Let's go demon hunting", she said smirking toward Siegward. Siegward slowly drew his shield. The uncanny resemblance to his dear friend Yorm filling his eyes. He too once had the hope she displayed. Wielding a similar weapon atop her shoulder only filled him with nostalgia.

She fired her gauntlets off behind her as she flew down toward the beast below. Her hair burning brighter, smoke rising from her with every passing second. Siegward looked as she charged onward. Roaring in her own manner she challenged the demon. Siegward lost in thought before readying Zweihander. _Yorm, old friend. Perhaps your fire lives on through this youth. Your determination still spreads through my life. I thank you, old friend. I will see you soon._

Raising his shield and sword ready for battle, he ran toward the edge from which he was resting. "I am Siegward of Catarina! And you shall feel the true Flame!"

With that, he jumped into battle ready for to face an epic foe. He thought once more as he plunged his sword into danger.

 _Yang, may the flames guide thee._

 **And that's the end of chapter 5. I gotta say i liked writing this one. The resemblance between Yorm's weapon and Yang's kinda came on accident, but I went along with it. I thought it was a nice touch. No fight scene this time though. This chapter was more about development for both Yang and the story. I have to say my writing method looking back on it was a little different from now. I write everything as it comes to me only having the basis for chapter as a guide. See what was different this time was that i actually wanted to keep writing. My chapters are mostly posted late at night, or early in the morning, so i usually battle with sleep while writing these chapters. But this time I had my full attention on the story, and i think that payed off at least a little bit. Between references and trying to make a moving scene, I think I balanced it out. Including the 'onions have layers' one. I really wanted to throw that in somehow. I hope this chapter was alright to ya and didn't seem like filler. Anyway with that being said, That'll be it for Yang for now. Moving on to the next character, in no particular order, I'm keeping the limit for three chapters. I know Ruby only had two, and that her first served as half exposition for the beginning of the story, But I promise I'll make it up to her spotlight later. She has just as big a role as the rest of her team. Okay, so i hope there's not too many errors, or any at all, but it's late. I'm gonna upload this and go to bed. Later.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ugh. I know this chapter wasn't in my usual time quota. But hey better late than never. So yeah where to put Weiss has crossed my mind, and Ithryl does seem fitting, but I had a pattern to follow which lands Weiss in a different area. But I'm not getting into that this chapter. Actually we're taking a short detour we'll explore every few chapters. I don't have much to say as of right now so enjoy. Everyone loves this guy so I know throwing him in the mix will be a good idea. Let's do this. Starting at 1 in the morning and stopping idfk. I really need to manage better. But I have to keep this up. I started this as, well, a creative project, but now I think it could actually be a good experience. Idk maybe it'll teach me something. But hey whatever. Ok now let's do this.**

"Jaune… Jaune wake up. Jaune!"

"Ugh. God my head hurts. Pyrrha? Please tell me I just had a crappy dream", I said. I don't want to open my eyes right now. My head hurts beyond words. My body just feels like dead weight, Rest calls my name and it's hard to hear anything else.

"Come on Jaune. Get up. Just walk it off", I heard. Oh yeah. I guess I can hear that. Pyrrha telling me to get up. My eyes snapped open.

"Pyrrha!", I shot up and shouted. A hand stopped me from sitting all the way up. I didn't exactly see what was going on. But I saw Pyrrha.

"Jaune, take it easy. You were hit on the head. How do you feel?", she asked. We were closer than i expected. If her hand wasn't there i'm pretty sure I would've headbut her. She was probably checking my head. That's what I would do. She was kneeling beside me. The concern in her eyes was clear.

"How hard was I hit?", I asked wincing. "Ugh god, you know what don't answer that. Just tell me if it's good or bad", I said touching the back of my head. Moving my hair aside i tried to feel for a bump. I couldn't find anything. "Let me take a look", she said moving behind me. I let her check my head while i took in the area. Last I remember we were on the roof, training a bit earlier in the afternoon. And then...

"Oh god", iI managed to slip out. "What, did I hurt you?", Pyrrha said worrying she had done something wrong.

"Pyrrha", I said serious. "Where are we?" Pyrrha stopped examining me. She slowly helped stand me up. She wasn't telling me anything yet. This must be serious. "Jaune, what do you remember?", she asked. I looked around.

 _I definitely don't remember this. The sky went out when we were training. I heard a shout, then something hit my head. Then another thing hit my head._

"Not enough Pyrrha. Help me fill in the blanks? Because I don't remember there being no sun, there wasn't a dead knight on the ground, and last time I checked we weren't here. So I really would like some explanation."

"Well it's just about that simple. I don't know how we got here either. But that guy knocked you out", she said referring to the knight. It was lying face first into the ground. _Pyrrha must've taken it out. Of course she did. She's been practicing fighting me for who knows how long._

"How did he knock me out? He has a sword. Why wouldn't he just stab me? You know what, don't answer that", I said rather not knowing. "But did the world go black before or after I was knocked out?." Pyrrha walked toward the knight. It wasn't until now I could see Pyrrha's arms. Her forearms were covered in some kind of black stuff. I would say blood but… I don't think it goes black until a certain amount of time. Wait why would Pyrrha have blood on her arms?!

"Pyrrha, is that person dead?", I asked my voice cracking.

"Dead, I'm afraid so", she stated. My eyes widened. _Why would she have to kill someone? Was he trying to kill me?_ "But I don't think this is a person", she said grabbing the helmet. She pulled the beard of the visor over the eyes and lifted the head off the ground. The knight had, for a lack of better words, no face. It's skin was charcoal black, and it fit the part looking actually charred. Whatever it was, it looked long dead before it met Pyrrha. She dropped it back on the ground and stared at it.

"What do you think it is?", she asked. "It's certainly not a grimm. It managed to put on armor. That's a whole other level of intelligence. It even has weapons… Furthermore its body hasn't disintegrated. I don't know what this is Jaune. But it's not something we've never seen before", she said analyzing the body.

"You're right", I said. "Beacon didn't prep us for this." I have to applaud Pyrrha for assessing the situation. I wouldn't have put this together that fast. Then again i didn't kill it. "How did you kill it anyway? That armor looks thick."

"It's plate armor. We've evolved a lot since then. The joints and neck are weak toward slashing attacks. If you're using thrusting weapons aim for the broad areas like the chest and back. Otherwise you would have to wear them down. But it doesn't have aura. It'd be devastating if it did", she explained.

"Jeez you know a lot about that kinda stuff. Speaking of knowing stuff, where are we? I'd really like to know where we are", I but in. As impressive as that knowledge was, we should really focus on the immediate area.

"And what happened to the SUN?!", I shouted. She didn't get to answer. A shriek of terror filled the sky. We turned around to see a giant nevermore pass overhead. It flew over to make another sweep around. "Jaune!", Pyrrha shouted at me. She didn't have to say anything to me to know we should run. "Let's go!"

"Go where? There's no cover!"

I took in the area. We were still somehow on the roof. I would say we retreat into the building but the rest of beacon seems to be elsewhere. The roof we were on no longer has a door, or the rest of the building it was on. I rushed to the edge an Pyrrha ran up behind me. "What do we do? We can't even see the ground!", Pyrrha half shouted. I heard the giant caw of the nevermore about to make it's sweep.

 _Come on think of something. SOMETHING. We don't have much to work with! Pyrrha only has so much ammo in Milo and Akuo. Crocea Mors is impractical at this range. Maybe Pyrrha can hit it's eyes._

"Pyrrha! Get behind me!"

"What are we gonna do?", she asked complying. I took my shield in both hands and bashed the spaded side into the ground. "Come on COME ON!", I shouted. The ground wasn't breaking. "Pyrrha", I said turning my head. "Hold this for a second", I told her.

"Jaune we don't have a lot of ti-"

"Pyrrha", I grabbed her shoulder. "Trust me. We don't have a lot of options I know. But I have a plan", I said looking to her eyes. She seemed to steel after that. "Okay."

She moved to hold the shield in place. I raised the sword above the shield and flipped it in high stance, then struck it down through the straps. It broke the ground that made the roof and stuck. "Okay behind me", I said. The shield was loosely hinged on the sword. I gripped the sword and put tension on the shield. I crouched down in breech position and Pyrrha crouched behind me. "Okay one of two things is gonna happen-"

I was cut off by the screech as the nevermore flew above. It reared up and lurched its wings forward. A hailstorm of feathers harder than steel came down. The sound of them breaking the rooftop and kicked up dust was enough to distract the bird from our presence for just a second. "See if you can hit its eyes or its vitals. Something that would expose it somehow", I said behind the shield. Pyrrha did as instructed and brought up her rifle above my head. She immediately got back down and pushed on my back.

"Pyrrha what-"

 _BANG_

The shield sounded as a giant feather crashed into it. She was putting extra force behind the shield. Of course it won't last much longer. The hold of the sword in the ground is going to get looser with every hit the shield takes. Then I heard a loud two thuds. I peeked over the shield over the dust and feathers. The nevermore landed on the small piece of roof that still remained with it's wings stretched. I moved Pyrrha to my side.

"Okay, one of one things is about to happen", I said as the nevermore began to move toward us. Backs to the edge I knew we didn't have enough space to fight it effectively. I withdrew my weapons from the ground and stood up. Looking to Pyrrha I said "Aim for it's joints. Either the wings or the feet. Then we can hold it still."

"What about the eyes?"

"I'll focus on the head. Just find any way to immobilize it."

"Got it", she said as we ran toward it. Then, a shadow flew overhead as a strong gust of wind roared from behind us. We stopped in our tracks as a trail of fire stretched just in front of us to the nevermore. The nevermore screeched as it burned, and then, something fell on top of it. Or pinned it down rather. In an instant, a white dragon with two wings and two legs crushed the nevermores neck in its mouth. The nevermore screeched in agony once more until the wyvern put its foot on its wing and jerked its head to the side, breaking the nevermore's neck and killing it.

The nevermore began to disappear into smoke as the dragon roared in frustration. It probably wasn't just killing for sport I huge cloud of smoke built up so much that it actually covered the dragon. Pyrrha stood next to me equally as terrified as we heard thumps slowly making its way through. Thump by thump more of the dragon was revealed from the smoke. It had several spines branching off its head along down to its back to the tail. It has white what I assume to be hairs near the mouth. I can only assume that meant that it has aged quite some bit. I'd hate to see a bigger one of these if this were a young one.

"A dragon… An actual dragon!", Pyrrha shouted. The smoke was beginning to clear when it reared back and flapped its wings forward, clearing away the smoke. It roared in great defiance with clear aggression. This was not a grim. This is a beast. Fitting that we killed the only knight up here.

The beast stepped closer. It's claws extended from its wings made it no less scary that it can' grab me with it's hands. It's mouth looked like plenty to worry about. Whatever comes into, or out of that thing spells death for us. Thud by thud it came closer until it was close enough to meet my eyes. I couldn't help myself. A mix of shock and fear took over. Pyrrha didn't seem to be doing any better. But at least she was distancing herself. It seemed to be focusing on just me.

It stopped. It's staring me dead in the eyes. I keep my grip tight on Crocea Mors. As impractical as it is, these weapons earned their place in slaying dragons somehow right? That's all they used in the stories right? Fire, flesh and steel.

 _I can kill this. I have no other choice. Behind me is a drop to my death. What was this called? Fight or flight? Well there's nowhere to flight. I guess that only leaves me with only one option._

The dragon rose above me. It let out a scream I could only assume meant a challenge. It bared its teeth with open jaws as fire came to life in the back of it's throat. Then its face came down. I rolled under its head and slashed up at its neck. It only seemed to anger it. The dragon stomped around in confusion trying to find me in its blind spot. "Pyrrha! Pin its wings!", I shouted.

"Right!", I heard her shout. Pyrrha made a break for its right wing. The dragon picked up on her and was about to set her ablaze. It was just over the dead knight. It's cape was surprisingly somewhat intact after being scorched along with the nevermore. I picked up its arm to find a sword underneath. It wasn't very large but it would have to do. I thrust Crocea Mors into its the base of its neck, and dragged it along the length until it cut deep enough. The dragon reeled back in pain and seemed to bring its attention back to me, and i kicked the knight's sword over to the other wing. Black blood spilled along the ground as it writhed in pain.

The cut was deeper than my first, but it wasn't enough. The dragon's skin was thick. I only got just deep enough to hurt it. It could bleed out, but it would take too long. It settled its head in front of me. It reared back to strike. When it bit forward I held my shield close and dodged to my side. I wasn't fast enough, but it managed to hit my shield at a good angle and just grazed past it. It clashed its face to the ground. I lay on the floor as it snaked its head back, but suddenly screamed out in pain. I looked over and saw Pyrrha break through the dragon's claws where its wings extended. She thrust straight through the joint and pinned it with her javelin. It looked to her and snapped at her in frustration as it couldn't bend that far.

I looked at the other wing. It was flailing around attempting to maneuver some way to reach Pyrrha . I looked back at Pyrrha. She was keeping good distance. "Pyrrha, the sword!", I yelled pointing to the sword by its other wing. She looked to me, and then to the sword. She couldn't go wide and get around it. We had not the time nor the space to find that distance before it decides to burn her. "Over me!", I shouted. I got up off the ground and away from the dragons wounded neck. I drew Crocea Mors and readied my shield. The dragon grew tired of not grasping Pyrrha and decided the latter option would suffice. It held its head high as the flame grew in it's mouth. Then Pyrrha made a dash over to me before she was able to get burned. The dragon immediately stopped as it burnt part of itself.

Pyrrha sprinted forward and jumped up into the air just as the dragon missed its mark. I held my shield firm as Pyrrha gripped onto it as I turned around and flung her using her own momentum. Pyrrha slid across the remains of the roof and stopped just as she grabbed the sword. The dragon paying no mind was still struggling whilst moving it. The dragon returned its head toward me. I readied my stance. It came forward with another bite. I dodged left, but stepped in as well. Its face bounced off my shield, when I drew my sword and struck. The dragon flew its head back in agony. Fire spewed about as blood spilled from where I stabbed it's eye. It pushed itself up on its shoulders as if it were doing a pushup. "Now Pyrrha!", I yelled over to her. Pyrrha ran up the dragon's shoulder, and pushed off in the direction of its wing. Thrusting the sword in like a spear, she pinned its other claw onto the ground. The dragon now only the side Pyrrha was on was fully aware she was the one who had done that.

She ran back towards me. The dragon made another snap at her, but she threw her shield to its head and bounced off back toward her. It didn't do critical damage, but it was enough to disorient it. She pulled her shield and rolled over its head mid attack to land next to me. It swung its head in a sweep like motion to try and sweep her. Being on its blind side i swung my sword up in an arc and drew a cut along it's face. It was taken by surprise and coiled back in response. By the time it could see me however, I grabbed my sword in high stace, and thrust into its head.

It kicked up and roared in anger as the sword was drove into its skull. It brought me up along with it as it flung me around on it's head. Screaming, I grabbed on hoping it doesn't fling me off the roof somehow. It stuck its head straight up into the air and gave one final scream of terror, then fell. It smacked onto the ground as I rolled off its head with Crocea Mors in hand. I rolled onto my back and stared at the sky catching my breathe. Until Pyrrha came into vision that is.

"Jaune! That was amazing! Are you hurt?", she asked excitedly.

"Yeah Pyr", I said. "I'm fine."

"That was very impressive. You did just kill a dragon you know", she asked helping me up.

"It was just lucky. It should've stuck to fire. Much more effective. I don't think I could have done it without you."

"Uhh", she blanked turning red. She shook it off. It must be hot up here. There was a lot of fire. I bet my face is red too. "No but seriously, I think you did a great job", she said reassuringly. Maybe we won't die after all.

 _ **SCREEEEeeech**_

The sound pierced our ears. The dragon broke out in a giant black mass with glowing red eyes and horns. It slithered and twisted in ways I couldn't follow. It lifted its head and swung its toothless mouth at us.

"Jaune!"

Pyrrha pushed me aside and the creature lopped toward her. It bit down on her shield, and no doubt part of her arm or hand. "Ugh!", she shouted. I drew my sword and was dashing toward her ready to kill this thing immediately. But weirdly enough, Pyrrha put her other hand it with her rifle, and suddenly the end of its javelyn form appeared out of the back of its head. She must've gotten it after the dragon died. The thing suddenly vanished into light along with the dragon. Then Pyrrha gasped.

She fell to her knees and there was a flash of fire.I ran to her side and checked on her arm. She was grasping her wrist while breathing heavily. It wasn't until I got that close that I realized that she was on fire. "Pyrrha?"

"Jaune?", I heard someone say. I looked up just in time to see Ren.

"Ren?"

"Pyrrha"

"Ren?", Pyrrha akeed.

"NORA!", Nora decided to butt in.

"Pyrrha!", I said kneeling down beside her. "You got hurt? Did that thing leave a bite mark?", I asked inspecting her wounded forearm.

"No. No this is just a burn. It was from the dragon's fire, it's fine I swear", she said unconvincingly.

"But why are you glowing? Shouldn't your burn be clean if it wasn't from that thing?", Ren asked.

"I- I don't know. But it didn't hurt me I swear. It just left this mark."

"Well regardless we should get off this roof. There could be more of those dragons. Or nevermores. Take your pick", Ren said again.

"Wait, you saw that? Then how did you get up here? And why didn't you help us?", I asked.

"We did", Nora chimed. "Ren cut off it's tail, and i broke its legs!", she said smiling. "And we came up the stairs", Ren added.

 _So much for doing good at killing dragons alone._

"What stairs?!"

Ren pointed casually to the stairs that were attached to the stairwell of the building. As it turns out that part of the building didn't disappear. Just the door frame that covered the exit. On the opposite side of the roof. Where the enemy was blocking.

 _Of course there's stairs. There were always stairs. Of freaking course._

Sighing, I looked over the events that just happened. I could really use some planning for sorting things out like this.

"So the ground is okay then? Any attacks from other Grimm?"

"Not exactly", Ren said. "You're not gonna like what's downstairs. Or anywhere else."

I was about to say something when a huge thunderbolt struck far away. It looked like a storm was forming out in the distance. Followed by another thunderbolt. Then another, then another.

"Oh great...", I said in sarcasm.

 _Do you know the difference between a man and an animal? A man knows it is going to die. An animal will fight back if it is forced into a trap with no way out. But there is no greater danger in this planet, than a man with nothing to lose. For he, has everything to gain._

 _Dong….Dong….Dong…._

 _They rest quietly on fields afar, for this is nothing but the eye._

 **And that's the end of chapter 6. I've read a lot of stories where they often throw in someone else's' pov during the story. This will be kinda like that, but it will tie in to the rest of the story. Also I'm thinking about redoing the structuring of my chapters. The three part system seems good on paper, but I worry each chapter doesn't bare much to read. In more popular stories they're usually around 3x the length of my chapters, but at the obvious cost of taking longer to write. And i wouldn't want to do that all of a sudden since I've already given Ruby and Yang similar multiple length chapters. If I just did one really long chapter for Weiss and Blake it'd feel kinda off. So I suppose I could just edit all their shorter chapters into one longer chapter, but idk if that's a good idea. Anyway that's that for team JNPR. I had two really good places to place them, but I chose this place first. Everywhere I place people occurs for a reason. And if not that, then it just fits into a pattern. It's like a formula, or equation or something. Just like Pyrrha being embered at the end there. There's a reason. Ugh, well anyway sorry for the delay, I have new stuff to do, but I'll get back to the story in a jiff. Anyway, hope you liked some of that. If i do decide to do the longer chapter production thing I'll certainly do it for team JNPR as well. Later.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Warning: If you do not wish to read the author's notes, skip past the bold parts, and enjoy the read. I will not keep my notes as part of the usual word quota. Enjoy :)**

 **You know, I thought about it, and I reconsidered. Irithryll just screams Weiss. It's cold, lonely, has analogies to royalty, and often pisses me off. All of those things match. Where better to put Ice Queen than a place covered in ice? Let's give her some of her own medicine right? Wrong. My initial placement for her was in Farron keep. I thought the irony fit perfectly. Someone who wears heels so much and a skirt having to deal with that swamp? It seemed like a great opportunity to push Weiss' limits. From someone with such high tech, advanced, and precise combat training the swamp seemed like a great idea! But then I thought about it. Weiss exerts her combat from focus, and seemingly nothing else. She lacks the drive of Ruby, the passion of Yang (or anger if vaguely), or conflict Blake so desperately tries to achieve over. Blake's being the more touchy of the three, still has given her more character development than Weiss. I don't dislike Weiss because she is bitchy. I dislike her because she's incomplete. It's established that she's a very lonely person, but is never touched upon after the goddamn trailer until season 4. I know it's easy to assume the position with being a high class figure, with high maintenence and standards that people would probably be intimidated from becoming their friends. Ever wonder why it's lonely at the top? It's because everyone thinks you're looking down on them. So with the raw elements of nature and the pure strength for survival grinding against Weiss' character stats like cold and calculated training and focus, I was ready to jump at the idea. Then, another struck me. Weiss is on the brighter side of a coin. It's all shiny and polished, but on the reverse side is Irithryll and Anor londo. Weiss' biggest concerns are maintaining her status as Heiress, while casually being a girl, depressing family disputes, and feeling really really alone. But oh my god, Weiss has no idea what the flip side of her position is. With so much power in Irithryll and Londo, the Monarch style corruption and taking over gods, the spread of literal chaos through a new kingdom, Weiss has no idea of the true darkness that is the breaking of royalty. The wealthy and the strong will survive here and kill the weak here in Anor Londo, and although Farron is a good competitor for this, you have to admit no survivor thriving in Farron (players aside) would ever conquer the cold, and brutal place that is this kingdom. And that for Weiss, is TRULY ironic. She'll find a new meaning to the word 'cold' in the coming chapters. More will be at the bottom. Enjoy.**

"Ugh. Where am I?", I said getting up. My hands pushed off against the ground. There was a thin layer of snow covering the ground. My handprints melted through to the dirt underneath. There was a harsh wind picking up, and god, it's freezing out here. I looked at my hands. There was dirt on them. Not wanting to wipe them on my skirt I bent down and grabbed a small clump of snow. It's not like washing my hands, but it'd have to do.

My breath fogged in front of them. I rubbed them together trying to keep whatever heat i had in them. Myrtenaster was primed with all the dust i needed, but getting a fire would require more than just the crystal. The ground under the snow was dead. It didn't even seem like dirt, it mushed with the snow in a gross grey color.

 _What is this stuff, ash?_

I discarded the thought. It didn't seem to fit if there was evident snow. And geographically there's no volcanoes even remotely near Vale. Although, it could explain why the sun was suddenly blocked out. Also the air contamination. Whatever it was that choked us through that event, it seemed to have gone away. And it certainly wasn't the snow.

Looking around after brushing off, things were definitely not the same. I appear to be alone. There's no sign of people anywhere. Where are the people? There was so much screaming, those sounds… What the hell happened? Where is my team?!

"Hello?! Ruby? Yang? Blake? Anybody?!", I shouted at nothing in particular. No one was here.

 _Great…_

With a huff I took in the surroundings a little better. I don't think I've ever been so surprised in my life. There was a huge There was a small trail down to my left. That lead to a bridge, and the bridge led to… my god. Far before me was… well I don't know what to describe it as. There were medieval gothic style buildings. Some were oddly lit up through windows too far away to see. These buildings were outdated more than who knows how many centuries ago. Yet here they were! An entire city of them! A town? A courte? A…

"A kingdom"

I was breathless. A lost kingdom? On Remnant? This is beyond my comprehension! There were four the kingdoms with their respective cultures, but this? This is never documented anywhere. This era of architecture, the mass construction, the resources?! It's almost unsanctioned! These kind of buildings were never found anywhere on the planet! Chapels and cathedrals alike were landmarks to ancient civilization, but this? This would never be found no matter how much history was put into praising on the face of this planet. But then there was the-

"Oh my god", I said stepping back. The atmosphere almost hid the giant towers behind city. They reached heights that would rival beacons hightower. If anyone were to fall from these heights, they would be able to give themselves a full prayer before the fall ended. What kind of people built this place? And where in god knows where am I?

The wind picked up more forcefull and stronger than than I'd expect than anything that wasn't a tornado. Shielding my eyes from the ice shards whipping against my skin, I looked to see what could be causing the wind. My eyes widen larger than i could anticipate and I'm surprised that I didn't fall over. I did take a step backward however as I saw the moon. The moon was closer than I've ever seen before. A piece of the moon slammed back into place as the universe shattered in sound. Imagine being a spider and an explosion the size of a mountain goes off at the closest distance possible so it wouldn't kill you. I was pushed back by the force of the sound and bucked back and fell flat over. There were rocks at the cliff I was standing at and made the landing that much worse. My back ached and my breath stopped as everything got a lot scarier. The moon flashed a bright glow that seemed to resonate within the city. The ringing in my ear dulled my sense of surrounding as I couldn't breathe. Unable to hear, see and breathe I managed to force myself over on my side as I struggle to get any air in. I grasped for the snow, the rocks, anything to get my bearings. It was like a flashbang beyond comparison.

Slowly feeling returned as the stimulation wore off. The city reappeared slowly in my vision. The ringing stopped and everything slowed down. I finally took in some gasps of air as I could only struggle. What kind of hell is this place. We're so close to the moon as cosmic event takes place right below it. What altitude are we even remotely close too… I don't want to know. I want to get out of here. I want this place to not be real. This isn't Vale anymore. This might not even be Remnant.

Finally as breathing got easier I got to my knees and hands. Struggling to get up I grabbed Myrtenaster and thrust it to the ground. The moon was mending itself. It shouldn't be possible. Extinction would've occurred before anything even close to that impact happened. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that anymore. After all, where I am didn't exist before any of this started. I should feel lucky I'm alive.

With a little more support, strength returned and i was able to stand up. My skirt might be dirty. But I don't care anymore. It was beyond the effort for saving. It could be wet from snow and dirt, but I could have a concussion. I should really learn not to care about these things anymore.

Taking Myrtenaster from the ground, I looked back to the city. Farther away than i seemed to care was a mountain that could be just as high as here. And to the right was the rest of what I didn't see. A large body of water, a sewer or something, some kind of structure that looked dark inside the distance, and beyond the edge where it was, was the rest of the world. The horizon here was just an illusion. It looked like a stone walkway that let you look at what was truly out there. Part of beacon still stood standing as far as I could see. The rest looked apocalyptic. There were fires and plumes of smoke so huge, they looked somewhat large being this high. They would probably dissipate before they reached close to this atmosphere. There were new structure I couldn't recognize. Overlooking what was left of Vale there were castles that broke the foundation of what used to be, and completely replaced what was there. Countless towers, still well below us, that just replicated the medieval architecture. Some of it more structured, some of it just clashed together with debris everywhere. I can't begin to draw a picture here. The nature of the city, the terrain, it was all gone. Different. Replaced.

"How", was all I could ask. There was nothing else that could protrude through the chaos that broke my mind. I didn't realize it but tears clouded up my vision. With a sniff I wiped my eyes with the cleanest part of my arm sleeve.

 _What was left?...Who, was left?_

For the first time since I've ever left Atlas, I thought I might be alone for the rest of my life.

 _Dammit! How could I let myself end up like this? I had everything planned out. I had a team, my school was the one of my dreams, and I mean it wasn't exactly what I was prepared for but it still was taken away from me. And for what? For this?! This end of the world just around the corner ready to take my world away from me?! I worked hard to get to where I was. I went my own way to earn my spot in this world. No. Not this place. Not this world. I've lived to see the end of mine. I won't let this world see the end of me. I'm a huntress.. And I'll be damned if you try to steal that from me too._

There's a part of me that's desperate for changes. I've been afraid. Amazing how this conquered me. Born to live a legacy. But I don't intend to suffer any longer. I'm not some pet. It's a shame that it took so long. I guess my training failed. Now that life is finally over. I will not surrender, this life is mine.

 _This life is not yours. And it never will, and never was meant to be. You abandon yourself in your past, only to find out this isn't you in your future. And who you truly were, will forever be, alone. The mirror shows someone else she will never be able to see, for she is truly, the loneliest of all._

Weiss tightened her grip on Myrtenaster, and strode off toward the rugged path to the bridge. Her determination to continue and survive took over herself. She felt not the cold, not the sadness that her friends may be gone, not even the perception of right and wrong. She felt determination that replaced many of those things. The world has taken so much from her. Now she only strives to take it back.

She didn't even see the sword stuck into the cold barren ground as she stepped down the stairs. She had an easier time walking as the ground was now that of stone bricks. As she rounded the corner she noted a stone pillar likely to hold a lantern. It was obviously not lit, but she didn't grasp how such tall pillars were supposed to be lit in the first place. She stopped at the bridge. She turned around making sure of her options. Behind her was terrain she couldn't make sense of. Like the rest of the world it simply didn't fit. Such a high altitude and still behind her the rock seemed to go higher. It was still small compared to the ridiculous walls that made up these structures she couldn't properly identify.

The bridge was a straight and open path to the city. The lights could still be seen in the distance, but so could this strange glow. It wasn't that of fire or lights, but something ominous. It almost matched the moon. Weiss looked at it once more. The fragments looked to follow the same course as the one she witnessed. She estimated it could take hours to days for the others to realign. But she had no definite way to back that. They were never supposed to do that in the first place, and she doubted there was ever any science to suggest they would. But there was something even still off about it. The moonlight was never strong as the moon itself reflected from multiple fragments, but even as bright as it was the light seemed to form almost a perfect crescent. The moon being broken always had incomplete crescents, so having a full one on this side of the moon should almost never happen. It happened about just as often as eclipses did. And those were just as incomplete. So seeing the moon like this is incredibly rare. At least she thought. She didn't favor much of Remnants astrology (not astronomy) in her learnings, but she could only assume based off that thesis.

The distorted light between the moon and its fragments would normally be looked at with awe. But Weiss decided it wasn't worth much time thinking about. It appears two or three may have already repositioned themselves. If the others followed suit then the same result should appear as last time. That's only what she could hope for. Otherwise it'd kill them all. Or at least whoever was left.

Weiss slowly stepped across the bridge, her weapon in hand. The bridge was so wide a ship may have been able to land here. Unlikely as it was she hadn't actually considered anyone was alive to even pilot a ship. Especially at this height. Weiss pulled out her scroll. Flipping through with her finger she came to the conclusion all online functions were disabled. That meant one of the four kingdoms towers went down. No contact in or out. The kingdoms had put a lot of trust into this system and into each other. If a kingdom wished to hide something from another, than they would never be able to speak at all. It was good on paper, putting all honesty forward, but if for an unknown reason such as this destroyed the towers, then the planet now has to be reduced to handwritten letters for contact. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but if this truly meant no communication, than that meant the backup towers were down, and that meant no one in all of vale would be able to access another kingdom remotely. They were just sitting ducks until the kingdoms grew curious and sent officials to Vale. Or the others. Who the hell knows, there's no way to tell which tower went down either. They'd just hve to wait until someone came along.

If anyone was left to come along that is. Weiss couldn't even imagine what the rest of the world was experiencing. She looked to Beacon's tower from her current position. It was about the farthest possible object she could see. Beacon had a transmission tower directly linked to Vale's. It could broadcast the signal to certain parts of Vale, but even if that were still here… it'd only be as useful as a radio broadcast. She could send something across Vale in attempts to reach someone, but she wasn't sure if anyone would hear it. And it wasn't even there. It was gone. Likely replaced by something else that mashed into the world. But if it wasn't there, where did it go?

Weiss took a picture of the view. It was disastrous, traitorous, chaotic, but at the same time beautiful. Taking more of her surroundings, she decided to document the immediate setting. Putting her scroll away, she began her journey into this mysterious kingdom. She could only hear the wind, and her heels as they stepped across the stone. There were no screams like before. No sounds of death, pain, a struggle. Nothing to cause it either. How long had she been out? How many people have died since she got here? More importantly how? The only thing she could link to the event was all the screaming, the black followed by the storm, then… that sound. It was hard to hear at the time but it stuck out in the back of her mind. A low broad sound. All she had to go off of was that sound. Then she woke here. She decided she'd have to find out later. She didn't want to catch her death out here. Either she'd freeze to death, or meet the same fate the rest of the people had. Whatever it was.

But then, she heard something else. At first it was a hiss. Not an animals hiss. Like steam escaping a pipe hiss. Like something just started exerting pressure. It just happened. Then there was more. It was a scream. A wild wrything scream. Something inhuman and almost monster like. The his was slowly replaced as the screaming grew louder. Weiss quickly turned around to see something horrible. There was a creature, or at least part of one at the end of the bridge.

It looked like it could be a grim. Should be a grim. But it didn't have the features. It had six eyes, three on each side of its huge head. They glowed a fiery orange similar to grim, but similarities didn't stop there. It had horribly kept grey fur from the end of it's snout all the way behind the beast where she couldn't see. It had a head that resembled that of ancient reptile creatures that scarcely populated remnant. Oddly its head seemed to be almost as long as its body. As it lifted up emerging from the fog clouding the end of the bridge, she could see its underside. It's ribcage was completely stripped of flesh and showed the barren insides of the malformed creature. It looked half dead. It's limbs were long, longer than should be on a creature like this. They bent down almost like a human pushing itself off the ground. Then it clawed forward. More and more it was clawing its way from the strange fog that spawned it.

When it was finally free it reared back and gave a defiling scream or roar and charged Weiss. Its jaw spanned open almost a whole 180 degrees as it rushed forward. With the snap of finger Weiss locked ammo into Myrtenaster. The chamber sounded with a click as it stopped, and Weiss easily dodged and spun an arc, cutting along the creature's face and body. It bled blood black as ink as it stained the stone. How it wasn't bleeding prior to this Weiss didn't know. It was missing the underside of it's entire body after all. The creature snapped its jaws shut as hundreds of sharp jagged teeth bit into nothing. It clearly couldn't see when it charged like that.

Skidding across the icy bricks Weiss readied herself once more. The beast with stunning speed bit left in a huge arc. Weiss barely managed to dodge back. Weiss' back was now against the fence at the left end of the bridge. It was faster than she expected. A small tear in her skirt was proof of that. Looking down Weiss scowled in frustration. This beast was clearly trying to kill her. It wasn't clumsy. It was brutal and reckless. It bit right again in a huge arc. Weiss was faster now.

She jumped across the beast's head and cut two arcs into the left side of it's face. It's head bit the fence then lashed back i pain. It gave an angry hiss. Weiss clearly hit its eyes, but despite the bleeding out across its face, it didn't seem to affect its vision. Weiss activated a time glyph beneath her. The creature took its careless swings of its jaw, right, left, right, left, each time missing her completely. Weiss disappeared in a sudden flash of white, each time attacking in between its bite. She attacked its arms, its face, it eyes, its jaw and each time only seemed to anger it more. Retreating Weiss distanced herself as it seemed momentarily focused on attacking her last position. A new glyph formed underneath her. She shot forward with immeasurable speed and projected herself into the air above it. The creature got lucky and took a blind snap at her in the air, but missed, albeit close. As the jaws lashed shut in front of her, she cut into the beast's mouth. She seemed to do some damage this time as the beast's head kicked back from the attack. She then launched herself forward in a projection glyph and cut all the down along its back. It still seemed unphased as it spun around and caught her with its tail.

The creature was big enough to manage that kind of collateral damage. Weiss tumbled and was knocked to the ground. The beast wasted no time trying to end her. It bit down as Weiss pushed herself back across the stone just barely escaping its jaws. It attacked again. Again. AGAIN. It kept biting at her, crawling, trying to snap at her, crush her limbs in its jaws, slash at her with its mangled hands. She wouldn't let it grab her. But it was so close Weiss was beginning to panic. She kept scooting back across the floor failing to stand up, and instinctively held up Myrtenaster in front her as a last resort. She activated the dust cartridge not knowing which it was and stabbed at the beast.

Suddenly the beast reared back in pain. Fire shot across its mouth and burned the easily damaged flesh. She managed to make a huge wound on the inside of the tip of its mouth, as well as its mouth and nose. Teeth were exposed to the outside of its jaws as the flesh was burnt away. Blood still spilled along the course of the battle, and was getting on Weiss' skirt. The slightly damaged end now had a blood stain to go with it, although it was black. The creature seemed to be in shock. Weiss just as surprised managed to stand and stance herself. The creature went for another open mouthed charged forward hoping to catch her in its mouth. Weiss re arming herself with the fire cartridge, stepped to the side and thrust her weapon along the entire right side of the beast. Its body lurch back in pain as it suddenly turned to meet Weiss once more.

She had done more than a considerable amount of damage to it, and now even more of its skeleton shown from the side of its face to the top of its rib cage. The fire was more than effective as a weakness, but it still remained as ruthless as it started. The creature gave a short scream in her direction but then suddenly stopped. Weiss was growing frustrated.

 _It keeps moving no matter how much I damage it! It feels no pain to the degree its fighting without the flesh on its bones! How am I supposed to kill this thing?!_

Suddenly the creature pushed itself up on its forearms. How it could Weiss didn't know. She should have destroyed its muscle fiber to the point it shouldn't be able to move its arms. She could see the damn things bones! It seemed to defy dying! It started shaking its head as its mouth filled with electricity from the back of it throat. Its whole body seemed to be shaking charging this attack, and its chest seemed to be shaking the most. That's when Weiss noticed something.

 _Its chest is where it built up the lightning! Of course, it's the one place i couldn't reach to attack._

The creature was about to let loose a chain of lightning to shock Weiss beyond control, when weiss shot forward glyphs of ice shards as they shot up from the ground. The shards shattered among impact of the lightning, but she had just enough to knock it off balance. The creature fell over on its side and roared as the lightning stopped flowing. Then Weiss went in for the finishing kill. The creature grasped at its mouth as the right side of its mouth was frozen over and couldn't free itself. By the time it had finally snapped the ice off Weiss had fully charged her glyph once more. She lashed out in a blur of white and slashed across and into the beast's insides. Its limbs flailed to grab her as its open ribs did little to stop her. She continued her volley of attack, slicing, swishing stabbing all as graceful as a snowflake. Relocking the fire cartridge once more she spun and thrust straight into the beast's core burning the thin flesh that remained. Parts of its spine and even more ribs were exposed as she yanked her weapon from the monsters mass.

The beast had had enough and rolled over on its back in one last attempt to save its life. It put its hands together and prayed. Its eyes looked off into nowhere and it simply laid there breathing fastly. With its hands together its finger clutching them together, it almost seemed as if it really were praying.

Weiss stood in shock as the creature stopped its attack on her completely and laid there pitifully. Weiss did not even know how to comprehend how it did this. The creature was barely animalistic. It was savage, monstrous and straight up murderous with intent on killing her and probably eating her! But yet here it was, praying? An ancient form worship lately abandoned by civilization? And here it was in the form of a prayer itself. Does it even know of a god? Does it know what it is praying for? Was it praying to go to a heaven of some sort? For someone to end its suffering? For someone to save its life?

For her to spare it?

Its body shook as its hands pleaded toward the sky. Its breath ever quickening. Its head shook in terror. Almost as if it was crying. Weiss' head ran rampant with thoughts. Questions on why and how never ceased plaguing her mind. She straightened herself, Myrtenaster in hand. She was about to deliver the final blow, when she stopped. She hesitated. Was she really sure she could do this? Her duty as a huntress was to protect humanity from grim and evildoers alike. But here there was, a creature like no other she had seen before. It was full with killing intent sure, but it seemed intelligent. Was it sentient? Was it able to perceive these feelings? Was it able to understand what mercy was?

She looked into the creature's eyes. Its burning orange of fiery now looked harmless. They didn't have any direction to be pointed but Weiss could swear that this creature just looked at her. It looked compassionate. It looked sorrowful. Like it had awaited something after such longing for something to end.

It looked sad. It looked scared. It looked lonely.

For the first time in forever, Weiss actually saw a part of herself in a monster. Even if this was a trick, an animal's first instinct when facing inevitable death is to fight back. This clearly wasn't a grim. And even though grim were intelligent to an extent, they were intelligent upon adaptability. Survivability was a key factor into what plays intelligence into a grims life. But this? This was strategized. This was pleading. This was feeling. This thing was even thinking.

And what was it thinking and feeling now? Weiss' hesitation grew into doubt, then to frustration. She needed to end this now. Even if it was pleading for it's life or praying, she needed to eliminate this thing now!

 _So why can't I?!_ , Weiss' subconscious screamed on the inside. For some reason, she wasn't killing this thing. Weiss lowered her weapons slightly and let her guard get slightly down. She wouldn't kill this thing. She won't kill this thing. This thing was sentient. And it knew it was going to die. It's no Grim. And it's no animal. But it needs to die.

Weiss let her frustration take over as she failed to see the sword that was plunged into the beast's stomach. The sword was removed and the beast writhed in pain as she surprisedly stabbed it in the same spot. The beast cried out in pain as it rolled over onto its wounded torso. Weiss readied her stance as the beast slowly crawled toward her and she stepped back. The creature let out its hand to grasp her as she stabbed the creature through the head and its bottom jaw. She withdrew the sword quickly as she watched the beast crawl to her once more. It seemed slowly now as its hand reached from a grabbing motion, to turning over open handed, almost as if asking for her hand. Then it gave one last cut cry, as it died, and it's hand dropped to the floor. It eyes looked dull and empty now, but still burned ever orange.

She killed it. She had killed it and she was too shocked to believe it. The creature was of sentience, and she had just lain it to waste. She felt confused as feelings stirred up against her better judgement. She was right to kill that… Right?

 _Right?...Yes, that was a threat and had to be eliminated. But what was that thing-_

Her thoughts were cut off as the body of the creature erupted into light, before flashing into particles and completely vanishing. Weiss was at a loss for words. Much less for understanding. She wouldn't be able to know that creature's true sight. And now she could never know.

Weiss' body was fidgeting. She had been so caught up in hesitation she never left her attack position. She hesitantly, and stumbling with words let her guard down. This entire event gave her some serious things to think about. That kind of experience could have been revolutionary to science in some degree. The link between humanity and animals? The question of sentient life other than mankind? She had seriously thought there was potential foresight in the hesitation of that situation. And although she could make all the reasons why in her head, she just couldn't grasp onto what she was experiencing. It was something otherworldly. Something entirely otherworldly.

"Ah, such dangerous beasts. Shame we'd had to put his pitiful creature to rest", a voice sounded. Weiss looked up from the ground she was starting, to see someone she had failed to see beforehand. Before her, across the distance where the beast had lied, was where the voice came from. "Are you alright miss?", the voice said.

Weiss looked at the person before her. She saw a knight in shining armor, with blue cloth adorned most of the equipment. The armor was equipped with several pouches and some patches of leather covering smaller spots.

"Pardon me for the unforgivable intrusion, but you seemed to be in a bit a state of bother", the knight said sheathing his sword. The same sword she had seen stab the praying or pleading beast before she had to kill it herself.

"Please forgive the unconventional meeting. I had no doubt you were not in a struggle, but I saw you'd freeze in a moments hesitation, and, well, forgive me for the sudden action as well, but i simply wished to be at your aid", the knight said. His voice was that of someone young, probably around her age she even guessed.

Approaching her Weiss was taken from her racing thoughts as a hand extended in front of her.

"My name is Anri, of astora. To whom do I owe the pleasure?", he asked kindly. Weiss still feeling off hesitantly took his hand. "Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee dust company."

 **Phew. Okay, so I know this was a long time to write this chapter, but believe me I was swamped around the other times I was not working on this. It took the longest gap between posting chapters, and yes, I realize that. But I was dedicated to the cause, and thought to myself, 'man, I don't wanna be like those other authors that disappoint me by posting one chapter every month'. But in all seriousness, I get why some writers take so long. A lot of stuff gets in the way, and in all reality, I can see it now. But hey, I liked writing this chapter, so, yay. *Sigh*, man, I really like writing these chapters. If you couldn't tell already, this story takes place mainly in dark souls 3. There will be other places (no spoilers) where our main characters will end up being. Dark souls 3 wraps up the dark souls series very nicely in a nice red bow. If you don't know dark souls, but would like learning about it's lore, I would seriously recommend looking it up after you'd had some experience with the games. It's very interesting! And dark souls 3 is personally my favorite installment of both the games and the lore. Seriously, there is such a deep and rich story behind almost every main character that invokes some kind of feeling. It's a truly feeling based kind of story that really requires a lot of perspective between seeing the darkness between humans, and the gods, and the abyss etc. Almost everything has two sides to it, and that, at least for me, makes for a very provoking and personal story. So, I thought if I can share my enthusiasm for dark souls and invoke that kinda feeling in someone else too, the more the merrier. If not, hey, no harm done. It's like recommending your favorite show to someone. If you tell em, and they love it, great. Now you can discuss what you love about it and theories and point of view n stuff. If not, pffff, whatever. You'll still watch it anyway. Anyway that's all from me for now. Later.**

If you are interested in learning about some dark souls lore, I recommend this guys channel. I love everything this guy covers lore wise. Especially how Havel and Leto became friend over their love of rocks. Freaking rocks.

user/VaatiVidya

If you wish to know more about RWBY lore, I can't really help you, as there's just not that much yet. We're only just seeing season 5 teasers and trailers, so there's simply not that much story yet. BUT, I can say if you like reading RWBY stories, their fanfiction base is HUGE. So go read some if you want. Anyway, it's late, and I'm gonna upload this now. Later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: If you do not wish to read the author's notes, please just skip past the bolded part of the text. My usual quota for the story will not include the author's notes. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy.**

 **Let me start by saying sorry. This chapter in particular will take a while to upload. I have been swamped with a new schedule, and yes it's during the summer, the one season I'm supposed to have more time. Sigh… well theres not alot to say otherwise. Rooster teeth released their volume 5 trailer recently just to smack me in the face and say 'nu-uh, see were still developing Weiss' character, It only took 5 volumes to show it'. Lovely rooster teeth. While you're at it why don't you make more soundtracks I don't like anymore as you realize your fan base is shrinking. Honestly I'm finding the longer RWBY draws out the more uninteresting the show gets. At first it's all exciting. You have somewhat good characters with just enough to make them seem interesting. 5 volumes later we have a goody girl who wants to save the world, an edgy one armed teenager, another edgy teeneager that has the skintone of someone that died and facial features of fox mccloud, and an underdeveloped white girl with a lot of money and a life she doesn't like. Forgive me for bashing, but RWBY doesn't feel as exciting anymore. Now it just feels dramatic. From this point on was actually a lot more ranting and i seriously didn't want that to take up space. Otherwise these authors notes would be twice as long. Sorry about my ranting.**

Weiss stared at the fire in front of her. The sword pierced into the ash before her somehow took flame by motion of a hand. Anri had brought her into the city, and through some magic barrier.

"Sorry about the unusual introductions again. It's not often we find someone that's survived as long as you", he said sitting next to her. They sat on some steps surrounding what looked to be an old water fountain? Or perhaps just a central piece of art in the form of a statue. Weiss paid little mind to them. Statues were everywhere. The fire provided little warmth from this distance, but she wished not to get her skirt dirty. Then she looked herself over. It was already slightly torn and bloodied.

 _Oh, what the hell_ , she thought.

She scooted closer to take in what little heat she could in this freezing place. Anri looked at Weiss curiously. He remained on the steps studying her closer.

"You said we? Does that mean there are more of you?", Weiss asked.

"I'm afraid not", Anri said a little distraught. "I was traveling with a partner prior to now. A very close friend he was in fact. Horace was his name. Where he's gone off to troubles me. We were on a mission together. But I fully put my faith in Horace. I know he would do the same for me", Anri said quietly.

Weiss took in the information with little ease. It wasn't unlike her own situation. If she was capable, and so was Anri, then her team should be fine. She shouldn't talk about that now though. She didn't really know what she should do next. She needed to survive.

"But curiouser I am about one such as yourself. Tell me, you don't' carry the flame with you. Are you perhaps undead, or something else?"

Weiss simply turned in confusion toward the knight. He seemed to pick up on her body language before she needed to say she had no idea what he was talking about. "Ah, I see. I'm afraid today is going to be a day full of apologies as I must appear to be speaking nonsense. Are you perhaps from the other half of this mess? The land was never shaped like this before. What the Boreal Valley is doing on top of this mountain is beyond me", Anri asked.

"The other half?", Weiss said standing up suddenly. "Are you saying your from the place that used to contain this place? If that makes sense?", Weiss asked unsure. His dialect seemed outdated somewhat. With Vytalian being a universal language the accent tended to carry with it. But if what she thinks is true then that would mean there were people that used to live in this other half of the world.

"Well for the most part yes. But I am not from this valley directly. I am of Astora. A kingdom very, very far from here", he said with quiet seeping into his voice. Weiss put the clues together easily. "A kingdom?", Weiss attention perked at this. " One like this?"

"This? Oh heavens no. Anor Londo and the Boreal valley were made for the gods. We were but but undead. At one point so was I", he said getting up. He stepped to the fire beside her as confusion sewed a look on her face. "I'm afraid there is too much to explain in our given time. But I can assure you some knowledge if we get you to somewhere safer."

Weiss seemed content with that answer. She knew a couple terms he spoke of and that seems to be where they draw the line between understanding each other. She normally wouldn't jump into the 'no time to explain scenario, but if she didn't find somewhere warmer, things could quickly turn south. He placed a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"I can tell you are not one of our kind. You're alive. More alive than most of the creatures that live in my existence. And that means your life is precious. I promise you, I won't let a human like yourself die out here. At least not while i can."

She was hesitant to trust a stranger. Especially after her last encounter. But she had worse risk not going with him. He was from this other place. He knew it better than herself. She'd trust him for now. Sighing to herself she gripped Myrtenaster and checked her dust left in the weapon. She had used up most of her fire dust in the battle. Hopefully the fights ahead wouldn't be as costly.

"Alright, let's go."

Anri removed his hand in gesture to a direction. "There is a church up ahead. You should know that there will be enemies ahead", he said drawing his gear. He had a simple sword and shield, not far unlike Jaune's. She could only wonder what experience he was having right now. Suddenly Weiss sneezed. Withdrawing from thought she turned back to Anri.

"We'd better get moving. I can imagine it will only get colder", Anri insisted looking at her. Weiss nodded and followed closely behind, until he stopped shortly after starting. "Oh- I almost forgot. You appear to have dropped this during your fight", he said extending a ring to her. It looked to be a brown- copper colored ring with a large black rock in it's center. She could tell it was made of metal of some kind by the color. He gave her the ring as she examined it with confusion.

"What- no, I didn't drop this. I've never said this ring before", she said holding the ring in her palm. The then closely examined the ring. The rings center was a deep black. Very deep inside, Weiss could swear what she thought looked to be an eye. "Ah yes, but perhaps you should keep it. It was on the bridge after the beast was defeated. You know, rings have incredible gifts where I am from. I manage not to wear them myself, but maybe it could be of use to you?"

The words were enough to snap Weiss from her state. When she was looking at the ring, things would go dull. Silent. Soft. It was like the temptation of sleep taking over before being snapped into being awake. Blinking a few times she managed to clutch it in her hand. "Gifts?", she asked.

"Yes. Wearers of the rings are granted all sorts of abilities. I've yet to know this ones, but you should wear it. Perhaps it could be of assistance. But if not, don't fret. You can always do away with it. I've no need for it. So you may keep it."

Weiss looked back at the ring in her hand again.

 _Gifts… Abilities… Why not._

Taking it in hand before her daze she put the ring on her right ring finger. It felt cold and larger than she expected, but still fit her finger just fine. Not giving it another thought she gripped Myrtenaster once more and again started to follow up the large path of stairs that Anri followed. Then, almost immediately stopped.

Two figures both transparent in form slowly walked toward them. Weiss readied her weapon, but Anri simply held his arm out, signaling her to stop. With hesitation she complied, but still kept her guard. The figures were tall and skinny, and clad in some sort of light armor. It didn't seem like it would protect them from the cold here seeing as though they were layered so thin, but that seems to be the least of their worries. Eventually getting closer one of the figure passed right through Anri's arm.

Weiss' eyes widened in surprise as they just passed right through him. She turned to look at the one as it passed her by, as the second passed through her as well. She watched as they slowly descended the stairs and disappeared. "What were those things?", Weiss asked in awe.

"I don't know", Anri simply replied. For someone who was more experienced with this place Weiss had expected more f a better answer than 'I don't know'. Apparently this meant this part of the world had some things yet to be known as well.

"Is it possible they were ghosts?", Weiss pried. "No, not ghosts", Anri replied just as simply.

"If you don't know what they are then how do you know they're not ghosts?"

"The same way you don't know what this place is, yet you know this is not from your world."

He gave a valid point. At this point they were just going to delve into nonsense. It reassured her that he seemed to understand the concept of logic though. It would no doubt prove useful when he explained to her what was going on. If he at least knew that is. Hearing his armored boot hit the ground in continuing his pace Weiss turned back around and followed. The architecture started coming into view more clearly. A couple of building were in view, but the pathing made little sense to her. Then again she was in a 'valley' that was at altitudes that simply shouldn't be. Making their way up the stone brick paths, a sound suddenly accompanied their steps. There were another set of steps heard up ahead.

The cause came into view. Up ahead were now solid versions of the previous things that passed them. One closer, another rounding some stairs to the right. It seemed to go into a small tower of some sort. What the stairs brought it to on such a small tower she didn't know.

"Are they hostile?", Weiss asked. She got her answer as one of them started running towards Anri and herself. She no longer needed validation. The enemy carried the same armor as the figures before, but had a curved sword, and a small shield, at least by comparison to their size. Weiss dashed forward and thrust her sword forward. The knight quickly raised its shield in response. Her weapon bounced off with a resounding 'clash' at the sound of the metals hitting. Her weapon bounced back in arm as she regained her composure. The knight however underestimated the power of the attack, but still held its shield up.

With the shield practically at its chest Weiss continued her assault. Her weapons slashed and stabbed at her enemy until finally its posie broke. Unleashing a powerful slash in an upward arc, she not only exposed the knight behind its shield, but managed to turn it as well. She thrust her weapon straight into the knight's chest. Although not going all the way through the its chest at her range, she managed to mortally wound it if anything. Black blood like before spilled out of its wound in its chest. Then the knight raised its curved sword and slashed at her in a 360 degree motion. Weiss slashed back out of range as the attack missed, but the sword came round again and this time, something unexpected happened. Putting a little more force into the second spin, and giant blue sword that came from seemingly nowhere extended its reach and slashed right across at Weiss face.

Weiss held her weapon in a defensive stance only for her guard to break upon connection. The blue sword collided against hers as sparks slid along Myrtenaster. Weiss kept her stance but her right arm essentially fell with the blow as she stumbled the the right. Having just enough time to cut an arc back at the knight she managed to clash with the knights sword as it came down at her.

In a protest of strength the knight began to push down against Weiss' strength, but Weiss was faster, and she could dodge it. The knight seemed to pick up on this though As it hurled its head forward in a low gurgling growl noise arose from its mouth, and so did a purple mass. It floated toward her until it exploded upon impact knocking her over at such a close range. It hadn't done too much damage. It was about the force of getting hit with a small explosive. Nora's grenades were much more of a dangerous threat. It was like holding a firework. Dangerous, but it'll only take off about one of your hands. Thank god Weiss had aura.

Surprised at the sudden attack that actually knocked her over, her weapon skid on the ground beside her, but still clutched in her hand. The knight went in for the killing blow as was about the stab weiss though, Weiss quickly shot her weapon up and into the knight's chest as the edge of the sword came down in front of her, and stopped. The knight's sword rested in place for a second, before falling as its body pushed itself onto Weiss' sword. This time the weapon had managed to gone through as the body slid down her weapon and slumped to the ground beside her, when she got up. Withdrawing her weapon from the knight chest on the ground she flicked the sword beside her, whisking the blood of the blade with a small ' _splat_ ' _._

The black blood had managed to stain her clothes slightly more this time. She cared little though. She turned to see Anri running the other knight through with his sword in its back. He then kicked it off the blade as it fell on the ground. It gave a low gasping noise as it died, then went limp. "I can see you've handled yourself quite well there", Anri said.

"I could have done better", Weiss replied. "It was just unexpected"

"I know you could've. I've seen you do it before. And you're going to need that much better if you're going to survive in this place. You need to adapt quickly. Don't hesitate. Nothing in this world will hesitate to kill you. You should treat these beings like such in return", he stated advisedly.

"Come now, we must be moving forward. Keep your wits about you. And stay light on your feet. There's going to be a lot more enemies where that came from."

Weiss didn't falter at his words. She knew she could do better. And so did he. It wasn't her lack of confidence. She had just made a mistake. She wouldn't make it again.

They continued their journey forward. Weiss followed at a brisk pace as they made their way to another opening place, with seemingly another fixture taking place in the middle. It was smaller than the last statue or fountain than before, but it still was apparently needed to be put here about sixty seconds away from the first one. Faintly she detected something around the fixture. There seemed to be small clouds of smoke appearing from small masses of light. The sooner they approached the clearer they become until suddenly, they vanished.

Hearing a small groan She could quickly tell there was a creature about to attack her and Anri. "Look ou-", she got out before Anri slashed down at the being. It slumped to the floor before making a sound and dying. Weiss was a bit surprised, but not surprised enough to not see the rest of them coming. They gathered around Anri and Weiss suddenly started a time glyph beneath herself and him. He quickly dispatched the few that remained, before Weiss killed the last one appearing behind them.

"What the hell?", Weiss spat out. "What were those? Do you not know what they are either?"

"I'm afraid we don't have the time to answer that", Anri answered while looking in the other direction. Weiss turned around to see another path somewhat adjacent to the one they came from, but this one was leading up to a road full of enemies. And one of these ones were big. While still being accompanied by the tiny black colored creatures that appeared before, there was a massively tall being. Taller than the knights certainly, and it held a weapon that lived up to that reputation as well. It was a large crudely crafted star-ish shaped thing posted onto a big pole. At least it looked like that at this distance. She didn't want to get hit with it regardless.

They slowly made their approach toward Anri and Weiss, albeit not menacingly though. They had no doubt saw what they had just done to the small black creatures. They knew they were going to be in for a fight. They were just bigger in numbers. The small black colored beings performed the same trick as the previous ones before reappearing at a closer distance. Weiss managed to take out two of them with ease, before dashing back before one could overwhelm her. Anri was having the same idea before and streak of fire rolled towards him. It traced along the ground until he rolled, effectively dodging it, as it continued past him and stopped. Weiss traced the flames back up to the tall being carrying the star shaped object on a pole. It them shot a streak of fire towards her.

Weiss dashed to the side and took cover behind the wall to her left. It wasn't much but it stopped the fire sure enough. That is until a source of heat began to rise from her feet. Her eyes widened as the flames got brighter and more intense. She managed to dodge, but the area she was standing in was scorched with flame as in exploded out of the ground. Weiss decided now would be a good time to close the distance between them and summoned a platform glyph. Jumping on and preparing herself, she launched with a projection glyph straight towards the enemy. The enemy looked up as Weiss flew forward at impressive speed before stabbing straight into its chest armor.

She backflipped off of its chest and kicked it back. Glyphs summoned around it as Weiss began to slash from one to one, before she had managed to give one final blow the the being as it reeled in pain, then fell over and died. Getting a better look, she noted it's white armor was similar the the knights, with a few white fabrics covering some some of its other parts. "Quickly!", she heard Anri say.

She turned around to see him finished with killing all the smaller enemies and was running towards her. He grabbed her arm and yanked her away from her standing spot as it erupted in flames again. "Another one?", Weiss said looking around. She finally spotted one up on a ledge above her behind some railing. The stairs ahead of them likely lead to a path to it ahead. More of the small black enemies started stumbling down the long set of stairs. Anri kept moving up the stairs as enemies approached. He quickly did away with the small ones as Weiss followed closely behind. "There may be a few more enemies than expected. We should keep moving. Staying in one spot might be a bad idea", he said hastily.

Weiss nodded not needing any longer explanation. She followed suit as Anri pushed past the enemies once as he was easily faster. Weiss followed him quickly as they rounded a corner. Ahead of them were more knights and the other ones in white. Wherever they were wanted some serious protection. "Over here!", Anri shouted making a quick dash to the left. They had passed a building or two, and while the paths were disorienting between them, she trusted Anri knew where he was going. The knight gave chase, but couldn't keep up the pace.

Fortunately Anri finally lead them to a small abandoned stone building, that Weiss thought looked like a church. Anri went inside and quickly lit the fire inside. Just like the last, it just ignited at the motion of his hand. It even looked identical to the last. But Weiss assumed that was the lesser of the odd things.

Weiss caught up to him and stood by the fire. They caught their breath as they gazed upon it. Weiss looked back out the entrance of the building. No one was following. Normally just running that distance wouldn't be so tiring, but Weiss had taken a bit of damage to her aura, although not huge. That, and they essentially since the second fountain they hadn't stopped moving. Between running and fighting it made for good cardio. Panting, Anri walked to the wall over to the right.

Weiss looked over in slight concern. He just stood there and stared at the ground. Weiss slowly approached. "What's wrong? Has something happened?", Weiss asked. He turned and looked her in the eyes.

"Oh sorry. It just it appears I have not thought some things through. I have gotten you this far but there is a bit of a problem I have come to see", he spoke.

"And what's that?"

"It's just, there is a way out of here. I've realized it now. But I'm afraid our paths may part ways. You see I am here to fulfil a duty. My kind are born from the flame itself to serve one purpose, but you on the other hand are still alive. You have a whole life ahead of you. And this is quite the trouble you see", he said while reaching into one of his small pockets. He pulled out a small faintly glowing ember in his hand. It took up about the width of his hand itself, but didn't seem to cast any burns. Weiss looked at the object in his hand with interest as it was probably going to become relevant.

"There is a way out of this place. But it would come at a cost. You see my intention was for you to accompany me. However this is a very dangerous path, and even if we did succeed, it wouldn't work entirely."

He wrapped the ember in a piece of cloth and gestured for her to take it. Oddly Weiss took it and expected some kind of fire to start, but it stayed dormant within the cloth.

"You see, that ember, the is what links a soul the the flame. The flame is the source for all life in this world, for without it, we all would have died out long ago. But the flame became one with a curse of the undead. Lives turned to immortality without consent, and because of this, many try to reach the flame. To either link it, or to put it out. I myself, have died trying to reach it", he said with seriousness.

Weiss was taking in the information open mindedly. She got the idea, but still didn't know what he referred to as 'the flame'.

"This flame was created to provide difference in the world. With it came heat and cold, light and dark, life and death. The dark gave the world human creatures, and they found souls in the flame. They gained strength in gaining these souls. The only others in existence were the immortal dragons. So with these souls, four lords were made, and overthrew the dragons. And this gave birth to the age of fire.", Anri explained.

Weiss wanted to say something, ask questions, but the ideology behind this history was abstract, and she had too many questions she honestly couldn't keep track of them all.

"When the fire began to fade, Gwyn, the lord of sunlight, began to sacrifice humanity to the flame. By using the bonfires like this one here, humans would give humanity in order to keep the flame alive. There was another flame created, but took the form of chaos and spawned demons. Because the lords feared the darkness. Gwyn, sacrificed himself to the flame, and kept it alive. And so the cycle began. His soul lasted for a thousand years, before another lord of cinder linked the flame once more. But from this came the curse of the undead. The flame fades, and creates these undead. These undead are to fulfil a prophecy, to become the new lord of cinder, or usher in a new dark age. No one knows truly what the flame truly wants, but because of this, the flame has been linked for thousands of years. That is where people like I come from"

Weiss expression wasn't changing. This was a lot of information to just take in. She hoped to god this was the short version of the story. If their history was any more complicated than this she may not be able to comprehend it.

"I was once an undead. But I was not able to link the flame. I came close to another lord of cinder, but was never able to link the flame myself. So, when I passed, my soul was brought back from the flame. These new lords of cinder, refused to give their souls to the flame. And that is why people like I are brought back. We are to take the souls from them, and offer them back to the flame, so that the lords of cinder may resume. We are the unkindled. Our humanity was never given to the flame, so we were reborn to restore order to the flame. That is why I am here. I must slay Aldrich, who was once a lord of cinder, and return their soul with the flame. There are others like me, but I like to think I was picked by fate. Horace and I…", Anri finally stopped.

"Perhaps I've said too much. Is this overwhelming you at all?", he asked.

"No I think I get it", Weiss said unsure if it was true. "You were brought back from death to kill the undead and restore the flame. Then the cycle just continues?"

"Yes. But I care not about this cycle. I believe I was chosen to slay Aldrich myself. It was my personal mission, alongside Horace, to avenge the ones Aldrich has killed", Anri said.

"So what does this have to do with me?", Weiss asked with a hint of annoyance. She had just been lectured about the history of this world and part of Anri's life story. She simply wanted to get out of here and help fix her world.

"I'm not sure entirely. You see the unkindled and undead are brought back from the toll of a bell."

Weiss' eyes widened in realization. That was what she had heard. When the sky went black, when her team disappeared, when she finally was brought here. The bell was the last thing she heard.

"I was brought back from the first bell. I believe there was supposed to be another unkindled like myself, but was never brought forth from the bell. They were never brought back to fix the age of fire. There are others that were brought back back for similar reasons. I was because I had escaped this lord, Aldrich, when I was still alive. He had eaten the children I had grown with, bless their souls. Horace was the only other survivor. We unkindled were brought back to kill him. But there still needs to be one who can return the fire. That, is where you came from."

"Me?", Weiss asked defendingly.

"The bell never got its last unkindled. So it tolled once again. It couldn't find any other soul in this world worthy of restoring the flame. So it took from yours", Anri finished.

Weiss stepped back at the accusation. "Weiss, it's not unlikely we were brought together by fate. There were more than one sacred undead in the beginning, and although you're neither undead or unkindled currently, you and I have met for this purpose"

"Why would I have been chosen for this world?! There was world full of lives here and your world collides into mine so it can find someone to save itself? Why in the world would I help this world live forever? Living forever is a curse!", Weiss argued.

"It matters not what you do with the flame. What matters is that the cycle either continues or ends, so that this doesn't happen to another world. You've seen what the toll has done to yours. Do you really wish this to happen to another?", Anri asked.

Weiss glared at him. "I might not even be the only one alive here! My friends were sent somewhere like I was. I know because I saw it! I heard the bell, and I saw them get sent somewhere. How do you know I'm supposed to be the one to fix this?", Weiss nearly shouted.

"I don't", Anri said plainly. "One of any of you surviving in this world could be the one to deliver the souls. But you were sent here. To one of the places of the unkindled. And you must leave here at some point. And to do that, your fate must be intertwined. Take that ember", Anri said pointing to the item in the cloth. "And crush it. With it, you will gain the powers that link the flame, and you will be able to leave, to deliver these souls to the flame. Your friends very well might be with the other unkindled. It is the only way you can leave from here. From these bonfires. They will guide you. But in turn, you will exist the curse. I'm afraid this is the only way", he said adamantly.

Weiss thought about it.

 _If I get to the fire, I can stop this mess and fix my world. Or I could take it so that the fire will never exist in this world. If I become an undead, the cycle will continue or will stop. Then I can eventually be rid of the curse._

"Fine"

With no more thought, Weiss took out the ember in her hands. She stared at it before crushing it in spite. Fire engulfed her body in a flash of light. She stopped breathing and collapsed to the ground. She gasped out a few words, before Anri tried to leave.

"What- does this- make-me?", Weiss managed to choke out. The curse spread to her body and soul. She knew he was unkindled. So what was she now.

Anri thought briefly. She hadn't lost her humanity. But now, she still bears the curse. It wasn't branded to her by the fire. It was a choice. She was chosen to bare this fate, even from a new world. And she chose to accept the curse.

"There is no name for you. You were simply chosen", he said.

 _Chosen_

 _Chosen_

 _Chosen_

The word echoed in her mind before she heard the bell again. The sound rung, and with it came the gusts of sand and dust that took her friends away. All she could see as she struggled for air was the bonfire.

 _May the flames guide thee_ , Anri thought.

Someone watched with great interest very near.

 _Ahh, our gracious lord…_

 **And with that, I'm gonna end chapter 8. There is some very important revelations in this chapter. I apologise if you already knew the explanation of the first flame and age of fire, but I felt that the main characters would have to learn the history at some point. Weiss being the 'smart' one I saw as a fitting opportunity to challenge her character. Her intelligence would firmly conflict with any contradictory moral in dark souls, but at the same time, she kind of has to believe it now that her world has been nearly destroyed. I think this chapter is pretty good. Not much else to say. Sorry about the time. College stuff sucks. I'll try to manage better. But anyway I think the story is coming along. Maybe slow, but hey it's something. Anyway the next chapter will still be Weiss, as I want to get more development of the story between switching characters. The next after that will be Blake. That's all I got sorry about the wait! I hope this makes it at least a little better. I'd appreciate knowing what ya guys think, but if not that's fine. I certainly put off the chapter so I can't ask for much. Until next time. Later.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Warning: If you wish not to read the author's notes, simply skip past the bold text.**

 **This one might be a little late. I got hurt recently. Not seriously hurt but enough to deter my attention. I think my last chapter was on… nope I forgot. Anyway I have a few days to myself. Since this is Weiss last chapter for the intro arc I might be a little more inclined to write more. It's just kinda hard to make something interesting happen with Weiss current state. Irithyll is a pretty straight forward place until after Pontiff Sulyvahn or you head down the distant manor. And that's for later. So, i mean… Yeah. And Blake is going to have her share of dark souls soon too. I guess I can see why it was hard to write for Weiss. There's like no ideas. But I've got a couple. Also, I didn't actually know the process of how grimm came to be until recently. Also that they don't need to eat. I didn't know that either. But what really confuses me is how the fictional types of grimm came to be. I mean, Roman was eaten by a Griffon type grimm. And the wyvern as well. Either the grim change upon becoming grimm ot that thing was an actual fucking dragon before it was a grim. Team rwby might as well be living in Ragnarok if that's the case. Same for the griffin. And the two legged lizard things… I wouldn't put that past unbelievable though. A robot girl did save Ruby from a truck so I don't see why that would be surprising. Alright that's about all I've got. More at the end.**

Weiss snapped to attention. She felt different. Numb almost, but there was a new feeling. Some new experience binding in her chest. This was among many new things she noticed. She was no longer hungry, or cold. She felt no tire. As if nothing was straining her body. No need to rest. Not even the need to stop. It all felt different. And her skin…

She held her hand in front of her. Small traces of dim firelike light traced across her body. They bend a streaked in her vision as she traced them across her wrist, down to her sleeve, and even down to her skirt.

"What the", Weiss started. She looked confusedly down at her clothing. It was mended. The area where it was completely torn before was now undamaged. No blood, no tears no dirt. Nothing was wrong with it. Except that now she was covered in these small streaks of glowing light. That didn't seem to bother her. She stood from where she had appeared from. She was closer to the fire then she remembered. The fire Anri had lit.

"Anri!", Weiss shouted turning around. He was nowhere to be found. The spot where he once stood was now void of his presence. The entire area seemed indifferent otherwise. Even the statues in the corner. She stared at them oddly. What the city was planning to do with so many statues around she didn't know. In fact she found them creepy.

"Ah-choo-"

Weiss sneezed. She covered her face regardless of there being nobody around. Along with many other things, she felt she wasn't alone. Looking to the entrance she decided against it. She was capable, but there were a lot of enemies out there. She looked to the right. There was a set of stairs going who knows where. Regardless if there were enemies that way too, at least they wouldn't be expecting her. She did have some new kind of feeling in her being. It'd be better not to risk such things. She didn't know if what happened to her was good or bad yet.

Anri had called it a curse. But she felt different. Not bad exactly, in fact her aura felt completely intact. Maybe even more than than that. It felt significant. Like it was stronger. More potent. She couldn't put it into words. But it was different.

Anri had also said something about the fire. And souls. He said many things. Weiss couldn't exactly put all the pieces together yet. What he did say was that the fire would guide her. She looked back at the fire. The sword stuck straight out of the ashes still burning. The tiny bonfire looked odd to Weiss. It no longer looked like a thing of warmth. It looked like something she connected with. Something she understood. She didn't know what the force was that persuaded her to go this way, but she looked away from the fire, and went down the stairs.

It was rather quiet. The one thing she heard was the click of her heels making their way down the stairs. When she met the bottom there was just an open doorway. The mashed terrain forced up against her vision. It looked like what used to be a cliff. Then there was nothing but rubble. Sticks stones and dirt all smashed into piles. She had not idea what anything here used to be. No even remotely close idea. She figured it was better this way. The flame would guide her. She wouldn't have to make sense of the mismatched surroundings anymore.

Taking a right she continued down another small set of stairs. There was no other direction to go really. To the right, another set of stairs. She hoped there wouldn't be an excess of these stairs. She was more than capable of handling it. But walking in heels on stairs would get annoying after a while. Her tolerance for such was high seeing she does combat in them, but judging by how ridiculously high this place could reach she may have to take them off at some point.

And to her left… Weiss was still for a moment. She heard shuffling at the far end of an alley. She approached with caution, and Myrtenaster drawn. The closer she got the louder it grew. Not loud enough to hear the grunting behind her.

She quickly flicked her sword behind her in an arc. The once invisible being groaned and slumped over dead. It brandished a small dagger which it was likely planning to run her through. She hadn't taken much time to look at them. They were black as coal and wore pale grey rags for clothing. Either they were freezing along with starving or the lack for need of heat and food affected them also. She would have to make sure not to end up like them.

There was a scruff at the end of the alley. Her attention turned back to the sound. There were figures hunched over something. The clicking of her heels stopped. The sounds were clear now. They were coming from these two figures hunched over a body. But they weren't human. They had the appearance of dog at first. A sickly almost dead dog. The rest was horrible. Their head was replaced with an unproportioned human head. One that looked like the skin was the last thing that stuck to the bones. The sight almost made Weiss sick. But the feeling lurching inside her stopped, and she swiftly ended them.

It was fast. One swift arc cut across their body then they fell. Right as a bark sounded behind her a bight forced down on one of her arms. "Aghh!", she shouted in pain. Mustering up the resolve she had,she brought her arm over and stabbed the creature through. Its body lurched and yelped as it gave its final breaths. The creatures eyes glowed faintly blue, then darkened. The holes in which the light took place were now empty.

Weiss looked to her arm. Frost had formed where the thing had bit her. She brushed her hand against it and it slowly thawed and flaked off. Weiss knew the properties of dust. It could be used as a raw source of elemental energy. It could be woven into clothing. In rare cases it can even be infused into someone's genetics (yes that is a canon explanation). Yang had the traits of fire in her hair, despite her semblance being composed of something irrelevant to fire. If these creatures were on a level similar to that power, she would have to keep extra aware of the things she was attacking.

Turning around from the dead end alley she continued down the set of stairs. It was very dark inside. Darker than she should be able to see, but her body seemed to resonate a glow. Not a fiery glow like her skin and clothes gave off. It seemed dimmer. Pale almost. She payed it no mind. What she did mind was down below. Tons of glowing white eyes staring up at her. Weiss was a bit fearful at first, but she knew these creatures. They were frail, weak slow. But they would try to kill her nonetheless.

 _ **Yes… KILL…**_

The words crashed into Weiss' mind. They were as loud as a whisper but hurt with the power of an booming explosion. Soon Weiss was left grasping at her head as a ringing took over with the darkness surrounding her.

Weiss fell to the ground, at least she thought. The light had failed her. And now darkness was everywhere. Suddenly a sound of screaming took over. She saw Blake. She screamed and fell over coughing blood darker than her hair itself. Stained with blood she clutched her heart and screamed. Then her view was ripped away. She Jaune battling some form of darkness as another scream sounded. Yang was there suddenly. Bloodied and blazing brighter than she'd ever seen her she lashed forward and attacked Weiss, as Weiss cut her down. She yelled in pain, before exploding in a flash of light. Weiss now lay coughing up blood of her own. She looked up just in time to see Ruby. She looked different. Her passionate immature partner now had the determination of killing in her eyes. They showed no pleasure. No sadness. No fear. Just cold determination.

Weiss gulped and coughed on her own blood. Leaning on her right arm, she failed to stand to her feet, and fell back to her arm and her knees. Clenching her hand to her heart she moved it towards ruby before she shouted. "Ruby!"

She couldn't find her words. Ruby lunged forward with her scythe about to slash into her and then-

"HuuuuuHHHH- Gahhaghgh!", Weiss' breath returned to her. Light crashed into her eyes as her body came back to her again. She fell from her standing spot and collapsed on her knees. She coughed violently although nothing was blocking her breathing. Her head screamed in protest as she lost the strength to stand reality for the moment. Finally her breathing slowed down and her eyes began to register where she was. Air surfaced in her eyes and the blood vessels recided. She was no longer where she was. She was before a large set of stairs, leading up to the big church she had seen from before the bridge. Coughing a few more times she seemed to stabilize her breathing.

Weiss could tell this was going to be a problem. Between things stopping her breathing and shouting she could tell these things may only get worse. She stood up as she realized she didn't recognise the area. She hadn't gotten this far. She had just made it to a dark tunnel where the eyes were. Then… then she killed them all.

The memories came flooding back to her. The black beings were crawling all around her. She had put down every one of them. Then the the ladies in the water, the centipede bodies they had, the knights. One shot at her, and had managed to hit her. She didn't stop for care. She had killed those ones two. On the way up here she had killed more of those dogs, those _**horrible**_ dogs! And more of the people with blackened skin. It's like they were burned into her memory from events she couldn't remember. But they were in her mind clearly. Why had she gotten here? Why had she become this way?!

Weiss breathing went from coughing to gasps. A single tear fell from her eye before she became orient again. She got a grip on herself and calmed down before she wiped her eyes. She looked at her clothes. They were bloody and ragged, obviously from combat. They were obviously manageable but still, they were close to ruined. Her once white attire now just looked a dingy grey color. And partly torn. Aside from that she realized her shoes were now gone. They likely got caught wading through the water on the way here. What she didn't recognise was something new.

She held a small cloth in her left hand. Standing up she slowly examined it and recognised the blood on it. She had wiped the blood off of her weapon with it during the fight with some person she failed to recognise. She had some form of magic and claws. Why she had attacked her Weiss didn't know. But Weiss thought she would have attacked her anyway in her previous state. But the cloth… the cloth came from one of the knights. They were clad in silver armor, with eagle like wings atop their helmet. And behind them was a small cape. A small beige cape. And she had removed it from their armor. It was clutched tightly as a means of wiping the blood from her weapon.

She stared at the piece of cloth for a moment. This piece likely once carried a piece of pride. And she had dethroned it in a sense from a knight, just fulfilling his duty. Weiss unraveled it delicately. She didn't know if the knight was akin to humanity like herself, or even faunus for that matter. What she had done wasn't out of a rampage. It wasn't out of some hate. It was out of something she couldn't control. She had dishonored a knight during so however. And she killed the rest.

 _This wasn't your fault. You didn't decide to do this. Something took over you and that's why you don't remember those things._ _ **You**_ _don't remember these things. But she does._

Weiss looked to herself in her current state. She had made her like this. Whatever conscious other version of Weiss had taken over clearly wasn't her. She was a human. Not a monster. Not like those beasts.

She took the cape and brought it over her neck. She wrapped it around herself gently letting the length fall behind her. It was easily torn from when Weiss had slashed it off. It didn't fall the whole length down her back, so she decided to use it temporarily as a scarf of some kind. She didn't feel the cold as much as she used to but she would brandish this as a token for the knight. For his duty. His kinship. His honor. It was the least she could do. She had dishonored him before death. It was the least she could do to remember him. Or her. She didn't know.

She began her ascent up the steps and stopped suddenly. The cold touching her feet surprised her, then she remembered she no longer had shoes of any kind. She didn't want to have to steal from another fallen knight. So she sucked it up and proceeded up the steps to wherever this church lead.

As she neared the top she heard clashings of metal. The sound of armor being pierced, weapons rebounding, then the blood spilling. Fearing the worst she rushed to the top to see what had caused these noises. There were two of the tall knights she had faced before. On had a large scythe to match its size. The other had the same weapons as the knights she faced before. She noticed they did not look like the knights she had gotten the cape from. They were both squaring off against two assailants she had yet to recognize. One wore dark fabric armor, some of it made of a dark leather. His hat was similar to an eastern hat. Not exactly a sun hat but…

Weiss didn't know a lot about hats. He had two short swords and a short bow on his back. He appeared to be squaring off with the knights. He was quite dexterous, not as much as Ruby but closer to Blake or herself. He was quick to dodge and lashed out quickly at each one with finesse. He was clearly trained for this. What he was doing here and how he got here she actually didn't know. With a quick slash and lunge he dispatched the knights and they fell to the ground. He did appear to be tired but not incredibly hurt.

Weiss approached him cautiously. "Excuse me", she said. She tried not to come off to assertive seeing as though she was somewhat bloody and had a weapon. He turned to look at her but didn't speak. He only met her eyes. "By any chance do you understand me?", she asked. He gave a simple nod and small "Hm", as confirmation. He turned to look at the church before him. "Are you headed in there?", she asked again.

He nodded again. Before Weiss could ask why, another figure appeared from a distance. They came from seemingly nowhere but Weiss had seen the stairs coming around the other side. Weiss had assumed she had just been dealing with enemies not unlike herself or the person in front of her. They had a very similar set of clothing on, also wearing a hat and hood of some sort, although pale grey in color. For such a cold area it didn't make sense to Weiss that they wore these clothes. It looked as if they were foreigners from the east. Perhaps they weren't from here either. But their look carried a sense that they were definitely not from Remnant's half.

She gave a small bow as Weiss approached, now a little more comfortable. For such odd gestures they seemed to not be a threat.

It wasn't until now that she noticed the wall. The fog wall there was a massive wall of fog completely covering the entrance to the church. She could only assume it was a church, the architecture here was scarce on Remnant. Seemingly unphased by the opaque fog the two approached. Weiss was confused why they were walking blindly into the church."Wait, why are you heading in there?! You have no idea what could be on that other side!"

They were unphased by her words as well. The one in black simply raised his sword in gesture pointing forward. Almost as if ushering a challenge. The other…

"Wait-", Weiss spoke. The other simply nodded and brought a staff of some sort out. Seemingly from nowhere she summoned some kind of mass into the air. It appeared in a few spots above her and seemed to follow her movements. Then, like the other walked right through the fog.

Weiss stood rather confused and struck with stillness.

 _I killed that person. Right after the knight…_ , Weiss thought.

She touched the scarf in remembrance. She felt confused more than anything else. Had she imagined killing them? If so then why did she remember doing it before ever seeing them? Weiss gritted her teeth in frustration. She still hadn't found Anri, and after seemingly going on a killing spree she was now seeing a person she had tried to kill. Things weren't adding up. Weiss wanted to know why she had done that. And more importantly how the person was still alive.

"Ugh. Goddamnit!", Weiss shouted. Without much other choice for an answer she followed suite to the others.

She stopped before the entrance. The fog wall was massive. What it held behind it she didn't know. She primed Myrtenaster once more and touched the fog. She held her hand there briefly for a moment before taking a deep breath.

Breathing in, then out, Weiss opened her eyes and steeled herself for what may come.

"Please let there be some answers later", she said to herself. Weiss was not one to talk to herself, but when she did, it was genuine. She desperately could use some answers as to what's going on. All these things were happening so suddenly, and there was no one else to help her understand. She would have to do that alone.

And alone, she stepped into the fog wall, preparing for whatever was on the other side. Preparing for anything.

 _pat pat pat_

Her feet only seemed to make to silence more abundant. Crossing the fog she open her eyes. On the other side was the two she just saw outside. They stood still, ready for what lay ahead. Weiss looked at the two as they suddenly began walking forward. Still not understanding she followed forward. At the far end of their path was another person. Weiss couldn't make out their exact details, but was stunned at how large the being was. They were several bodies taller than herself nevermind heads. In their left hand, a large greatsword regular looking enough. In the other hand another greatsword of somewhat bigger size. It held a gold like color to it, so it likely held some powerful metal in its creation.

The being walked forward, just as slow as they did. The massive swords not faltering in position. Weiss only assumed the worse. This thing would try to kill them. She knew it. She held Myrtenaster at ready, waiting for someone to make any sudden movement. The two beside her seemed to tense. Weiss took notice of this. Perhaps she was underestimating this person. He was clearly outnumbered, and possibly out weaponed. She had seen only a small amount of what the beings from this half were capable of. If this being was on par with what she expected, he could quite possible overpower them. She had a new sense of caution she hadn't felt present before.

She would have to adapt. She never fought with these people before. She may even know how to kill one at this point. The thoughts still confused her. But she needed to focus right now. And that seemed to be something she was having a hard time with right now. The closer she got the more thoughts seemed to steer her focus away. The sense of a threat was growing. Just what kind of power did this person contain?!

The person stopped, and brought his foot back. He was readying for an attack, she knew it. She stopped and her eyes widened as the two seemed to keep their pace. "Wait!", she shouted. It didn't even seem to slow them down. Now it was too late. Time seemed to slow at the person lashed forward. Weiss literally flipped out of the way. The other two stood ready to take the hits.

It slashed forward, its swords now glowing. One on fire, the other a dark purple. It swept right at the one in black, managing to keep his position. It spun around and slashed at the one in pale with both swords, sending it across the way into benches right to the left of Weiss. They broke under the person's body effortlessly. This gave Weiss an idea of just how hard they were hit. Still, the pale one rose to their feet, as the masses around them shot forward to the large one. It only made them flinch. But to flinch someone so large clearly took a lot. And Weiss knew it'd take much more to die.

It resumed its assault on the black one. Weiss really should have picked up names. Describing this fight is disorienting. He rolled under the massive swords, barely dodging the auras they hold. The giant one seemed to not care the small twin swords cutting into him. The slashes spilled a little blood. Surely there would be more. The flaming sword came down, and down again. He staggered on the first blow, the completely collapsed on the second. The pale on attacked from behind with a glowing dark masses hit once more. The pale one seemed to recite something before sending the attack. Words she could not understand, but somehow had meaning to Weiss.

 _Affinity_

Weiss was still. Shocked at everything happening, she had yet to see this combat scenario before. Except in…

Darkness took over Weiss again. Then it lifted, only enough to see.

 _I know this place_ , Weiss thought. She looked up. The large window sending light into the blank room right on top of...

 _The Atlass knight_

The knight rose from its kneeling. The great sword in hand towered over her. The knight took a stance then attacked without hesitation. Weiss dashed back, then forward. She ran through the motions exactly as she did before. The glyphs appeared in the same place, each attack struck the same area. Then as each slash, swish and stab connected, the illusion left. And suddenly the knight's sword was in place of the giants. Weiss conscious took over as her attack faltered and the flaming sword connected with her directly. She was sent flying away crashing into the ground, just like the pale one had. Then she was sent back into darkness.

She rolled and smacked against the floor of the empty room once more. Blood trickled down her face. Her scar was fresh just like before. She stood up and attacked. The knight suddenly vanished once more. Her sword thrust right past the giant man and she fell to her knees. The sword came down and a flash of purple slashed across her vision. The sword switched illusions, to the knights, then back. She tumbled to the floor. Tears building in her eyes. The sense of death was flashing through her being. She didn't want to die. The place changed scenery again. She was at the bridge, facing the six eyed monster. It clashed its jaws against her body and threw her aside. The creature roared, and charged at her with its mouth stretched far too wide.

Weiss shakily stood and closed her eyes briefly. "No!"

She swung her sword up in an arc of fire cutting straight through the beast. The illusion disappeared as her sword scraped against another. The flaming sword shifted against hers. Sparks flew as she smacked his sword away with her smaller weapon screeching in protest. The sword still held in his hand, stabbed straight into the ground. She failed to disarm him, but met his strength with her gaze somehow. She looked through her eyes, not breaking from her trans. She had entered that state again. She didn't fight it. She empowered it. She flushed her anger and fear out of her mind and met his face with eyes that weren't her own. The aura surrounded her in a violent red light. Weiss was going to kill this thing, She wanted it. _Screamed_ for it. Only his death would satisfy her bloodlust.

He regained his composure, and looked down upon her. His body shifted as if shocked by her sudden attack. He drew his sword from the ground and raised above his other shoulder as if to cut her down.

 _ **Kneel... to... Me!**_

His thoughts invaded her mind with the same shaking force as before. But Weiss remained unchanged. The red grew stronger as it flowed through and around her. It was him that sent her into such distress as before. He was the one who gave her those visions. He was the only one who dared make her feel this way! She would not allow it.

"No.", She said, her voice louder than she realized. His flaming sword came down in an arc. Weiss cut right into his side, and cut around his backside in a turn. Weiss put more strength than she realized she had into that attack. She expected her sword to reach out of position, but her arm held it steady, ready for combat once more. He attacked straight across her. His dark great sword clashed against her barrier glyph, and sliding right across it. Her returned with another arc from his flaming greatsword into another solid glyph.

This one didn't falter in the slightest either, and his sword bounced off of it like a steel wall. Weiss summoned an ice glyph and struck straight toward his feet. The ice solidified around his legs and he stumbled into place unable to move. He raised his flaming sword, glowing brighter as the flame grew brighter than she could expect. Her eyes flashed another image. Weiss saw Yang under the highway. She had never seen Yang's hair become so bright. Her semblance had taken the damage she received and increased her strength tenfold. There was no Roman and Neo fighting amongst her team. Just herself and Yang preparing to attack her.

Weiss faltered only for a second. She didn't want to fight her team. She especially didn't want to hurt them. The red aura flickered and Weiss' determination was gone momentarily. Yang shot forward faster than she could even see, but Weiss returned back to her trance.

She knew this was an illusion. She wouldn't fail now. Not while she has this much strength within her! Weiss' eyes narrowed in frustration.

"You are **not** stopping me **again!** ", she shouted in rage. A strange sensation shot through her eyes, and the illusion broke from her will. The flaming sword was still raised, but hit the ground with thunk. Weiss had struck straight through Yang's illusionary appearance, and toward his face. Her Myrtenaster pierced straight through the mail that covered his face, and she pulled it out in a slash. Blood splattered along the red carpet and stripped off her sword with a flick of her wrist.

His crowned head still rose to meet her eyes as she backed up. Her eyes widened in surprise as he survived the fatal attack. Dark blood ran down his branch themed mask, and on his crown. Weiss struck blood across him. His large robes were slashed and covered in blood, some of which was probably not his own. And his necklace matching the gauntlets on his arms fared no better. When Weiss withdrew her sword from his face she had cut off the necklace and it fell to the floor. She stared at the black rocks that decorated the sockets. Then her eyes widened in conclusion.

Weiss shook her head in amazement as she shook her hand holding Myrtenaster in front of her. Turning over her hand shakily she looked at the ring Anri had gave her. The ring had the same black iris shaped stone as the necklaces stones. The ring sent her into darkness repeatedly as Weiss grabbed and shook her head. The world faded in and out as she shook the darkness away from her eyes.

"Sop controlling ME!", she screamed in pain. After her shouting the blackness and dark left as she stood before the giant controlling her. "You can't control me! I'm stronger than you! You will **Die!** ", Weiss shouted in her fading trance. And as soon as she shouted, the red aura left. And so did her trance.

Her sword raised now lowered shakily as she lost her bearings. She failed to see the giant raise the dark sword and thrust it past her.

She gasped as she saw the end of her life drawing near. Then the person dressing in dark clothing with swords selflessly pushed Weiss out of the way as the giant's sword struck right through him.

He cried out in pain shortly as the giant man raised his sword with him on it. Then in a flash of light a dark energy surged through the sword, and surged through him as well. The sword glowed a brighter purple and the man screamed in pain some more, until he easily flicked him off the sword, killing him. He gave one final breath after hitting the floor, then exhaled in release. Weiss watched his body disappear piece by piece in shattering light. A sharp and silent ringing in her ears sounded in his death.

She watched in shock as the giant shattered the ice breaking off his feet with one single sweep. Readying himself once more he crossed his swords across his body and walked over to Weiss menacingly. Each footstep shook her as the shock from death never left her eyes.

 _He tried to save me. And he did! What a stupid idiot! What a stupid- self righteous- idiot_

Weiss' thought broke as guilt took over her. The giant stood before her readying to kill her.

 _ **He was slain by you fault… You, will die by MY HANDS.**_

He invaded her mind with thoughts once more. Then, he struck the ground with his sword. A shift in the atmosphere surrounded him as a darkness came from out underneath him. Weiss was too shocked to do anything, and failed to notice the pale one running towards her. He grabbed Weiss in an attempt to grab her and run away. The darkness spun in a shaky void and pulled them in. In an attempt to protect Weiss one last time, he shifted his weight and spun her sending her out of the spiraling darkness that consumed them. As Weiss fell to the ground the pale figure drew it's menacing looking weapon. A straight sword looking like it had several branches striking out in another sharp blade(morion blade) drew from his waist and was thrust straight into the giant persons chest.

The giant being looked to the pale one, and spewed some inhuman noise in and black frenzied explosion. Weiss had never seen such a thing. And as the being regained his stance, his body split into two, leaving in a pure form of dark light. It also readied in the same position. And as the dark void of the being raised above her, in wings it spouted more darkness. She looked to the real one and could see that it was easily giving it the same trait. Stepping back the real giant being looked to it's new creation. It flew above her ready to kill her at a moment's notice.

Weiss closed her eyes as time collapsed. Her mind raced at once. She saw Ruby, giving her encouragement. Blake and Yang were with her as well. Winter was there telling her to do better.

 _Come on Weiss get up!_

 _You can defeat him, we know you can!_

 _You've beat stronger guys than this! I know you can do it!_

 _You'll have to do better if you want to succeed. Don't let things slow you down!_

Weiss struck Myrtenaster to the ground and got on one foot. Her legs protested in strength.

Weiss started screaming. She clenched her fist and every fiber of her body screamed with her. A white glyph produced beneath her. It started failing in size. Its light shifting as it grew around her.

"I can do better!", she screamed. She hung her head. She had ran out of time. She had failed. Suddenly two loud crashes sounded in front of her. She rose her head tired, to see one: that the dark giant had slammed down into the ground in front of her. Its fiery explosion burst forward and burned her. She shielded her face from the heat as something came down in front of her and shielded her. Two: that the thing that had shielded her was a great, steel atlesian sword. And the one that wielded it was the Atlesian knight. She remained silent The giant knight stepped over her, firmly planting one foot on the ground with a large 'THUD', then came the other one.

The knight heavily hefted, and unsheathed the end of the sword from the ground. Weiss couldn't believe it. Her summon glyph had worked. But she needed aura to keep it. Standing slowly she witnessed her knight flick the dark giant back with its massive sword, the cut it straight through the middle and watched it crash to the other side of the room.

She hadn't needed to look elsewhere. She knew it wouldn't survive. Hastily she took the ring off her hand, as well as the scarf. She fed the scarf through the ringhole and then re-tied it around her neck.

"I don't need your power to do this", she said with her aura flaring. "You won't be taking anything more away from me."

 _Thud_

 _Thud_

 _THUD_

The Atlas knight stopped in front of him. The once tall giant of a being now looked up in an expressionless face against the knight before him. He simply raised his two swords, challenging his new opponent to the death. The knight gripped its swords in both hands, and raised it overhead ready to end this.

The Giants swords lashed forward.

The Knight's sword came down.

' _CLANG'_

 **And that is the end of the chapter. Woohoo there is Weiss' introduction arc to dark souls. I hope you liked it. I really tried to make more happen in this chapter. As a result it may be slightly longer than the others, but idk between word count and page numbers. Anyway, it was a challenge. And I liked it! This poses another challenge as now I have to place Blake somewhere in particular. Hmm… Ok. I've got this.**

 **Hope you guys look forward to the next chapter. If you can, I'd love some feedback. I am still a bit insecure about my writing so some criticism I think would really help! But if not, um, oh well. I got nothing. But still it would be great to know you're there. See ya :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: I talk a lot. Don't wanna hear my author's notes, skip the bold part.**

 **Hi. It's been a little bit since I last posted But I'm wanting to I swear. The last few weeks have been hectic for me. I won't go into detail but I'm not in great condition. For those of you who do read this story sorry about the wait. I've been trying to even out some tasks I need to take now. But I'm continuing the story. I did ask for some advice from some certain individuals with things like creative writing, and I keep receiving advice that isn't advice. Just criticism on what they think I do wrong. Not so much how to get better. Anyway while I am recovering both physically and, idk motivationally I'm just gonna try and recapture the idea at it's source. Now I'll be starting with Blake, but I'll try and make this chapter a little different. I try to focus on a different aspect of dark souls for each character. Also irony. Or just cruel fate. You probably don't know it, but I do. That I allow you know that much.**

 _God this place is dark._

I stared at the fire without interest. This fire. It kept a sword in its heart. A coiled sword. This was the only thing around here that didn't try and hurt me.

 _Or kill me for that matter._

The fire seems to keep them away. These things. I don't know what they are. Demons maybe? They had curled horns, dark purple skin, blood that was black. They sounded like a possible description for ancient demons. Blake knew little of the pre aura ages. Grimm were always present in history on Remnant. Maybe demons were too. Maybe this was their return. They came back from the darkness and cast a shadow over the world. And the ones who remain were suffering the same fate as her. Yeah. That sounds believable

 _It doesn't matter. You were brought back again._

"Ugh shut up!", a shouted at myself. I gripped my head in pain. It constantly throbbed. Every thought provoked something that felt wrong. Even the sound of my own voice sound strange now. I haven't talked for so long that I'm alienating me from myself! I closed my eyes hard hoping to block out whatever's in sight. I just needed to not see these things for a minute. I drew in a shaky breath only for it to not come back out. I can't even live the right way. I have to will myself to breathe. Nothing feels normal anymore.

It almost comes out as a sob. Almost a cough even. I won't cry though. I have to keep grip on something. If these thoughts were invading me now I could only imagine the impact they'll have on me if I actually break down and cry. It sounds tempting. Not because of depression overwhelming me, because it will make me tired. No matter how long I stay or move, or try and rest, well I'm just never at rest. There's a constant feeling that refuses to go away. It's not a feeling. I can't put it into words.

 _Yes you can. You just haven't come to terms with it._

…

Silence is more preferable to responding to them. It's hard to tell when the thoughts are mine and when they aren't. They're always in my head. I can only try and make sense of them.

"You won't leave me alone. It's like someone constantly talking in my head", I said to no one in particular. "It's like a constant static in the background. I can think on my own, and I know what's mine. But you keep whispering these things until I think them myself. But these aren't mine! What happened to me?!", I yelled. No one was there to answer. Not even the fire.

 _We are the same._

 _No we are NOT!_

 _Yes we are. You just haven't accepted it yet!_

"Shut up!", I yelled again. The little flame grew in my hand once again. It appeared in my hands every once in awhile. Or around it. It combusted into life without me even knowing most of the time. It flared and glowed brightly defying any source for it's simple needs. Then, it did something weird. It whipped and whirled and made the sound that only fire could make, then it turned into something else. It grew black. A dark, thick deep sticky substance of black. I don't know why sticky. Perhaps because it stuck onto this fire that seemed to never leave me. Just like the voices stuck onto me. There was somehow a defying light inside the blackness. It was a dull, and grey and gentle light. It looked tired almost. Maybe that's what's left of the fire after it turns into this.

 _It is not turning into this. It is one and the same. Just as we are._

 _We are NOT the same! My life was never like this before you showed up!_

"I was never battling with myself in a constant conversation by a fire and I never felt like this before I Died!"

I started speaking instead of thinking without realizing it. I guess thinking aloud is the one way of coping with the overpowering voices in my head.

 _They're my voices._

I inhaled sharply. That one felt too real. I didn't even know if that one was my own. I felt sick. It was such a terrible feeling. My mind is being violated! Is this it? Is this how my life ends? It didn't end from my body actually dying, so would this be how morality works now? Just slowly unraveling until you've slowly lost so much of your mind you're not there anymore?! I didn't want to die! I wanted to do something successful with my life. I wanted to become a huntress. I wanted to make a difference for the Fanaus and the Humans. Not this. This unending nightmare. If this is dying, this is torture. What is death really going to be like? Was this new me going to take over? Can I ever finally rest?

 _We're not going to take over. We are going to coexist. In harmony. Don't you see? We are the same._

I looked up at the world around me. The moon was shattering back together. The sky grew dark, but never turned night. Parts of the emerald forest was on fire and never went out. Murky dark water swamped the ground on drew poison to any of the skin that touched it. The once green leaves that defined this nature of her world all died. And with them, her world died with it.

The world around me was all new. All the new experiences to come with it. Those who simply didn't experience them themselves, simply didn't exist.

"No. Nothing is the same anymore."

For once, there was silence in my head. It looks like we agreed on something. This something was real. That I know. I knew I'd never be the same anymore. Not after I grabbed the ember. Not after I grabbed the fire. Whoever that was gave me a curse. Or some fate worse than death.

…

Silence. We agree on this too. If we really are the same, then they have to believe that's true.

"Ugh! Nothing makes sense", I said to myself. The voice still wasn't there. It was silent. It was only my own. "Oh thank god. I need to act before I think myself to death. At least you can't control me. Whatever you are. Darkness I guess."

I stood up on the small mound dirt that mounded against the poisonous water. I had gone two ways. One way to the horizon, where I could see the moon. The other way along it's end when all i found was a desert of ash and dust. I guess I could try going the other way. The only way I couldn't see an end through. Into the forest. Or at least what's left of it. Whatever this world took and replaced there I actually didn't know. Towards the fires on more of the trees, and the monsters that lurked in the waters. Yup. That's the direction I'm going.

Into the darkness.

It's funny how I wasn't afraid I was going to die.

 _Fear not the dark my friend. And let the feast begin._

 _We have no such needs as fear. We are moving toward our fate with new embrace._

Blake moved effortlessly from tree to tree to whatever landmass she could find sticking out of the toxic water. Blake had already made the mistake of going into it once. The bodies. Oh the bodies she found. She'd like to say they were long dead, but her sense of time was changed now that the day no longer cycled. Everything just hung inbetween. The sky was grey. The shadows were mild. And any light she found made a stark difference. It's all been fire. Trees burn above water seemingly forever and their firelight made just that little difference. The fire was something different now. Especially after this world crashed into hers.

Her boots scuffed the ground as she landed on whatever land mass this was. The dirt no longer clean or covered in red leaves was unknown to her. Probably killing whatever fertility that came with the poisoned water. Her surroundings grew thickly the same the more she looked around. But on this piece of land was something new. A crucifix. And on it seemed to be a crescent. Not unlike a moon.

She walked up and observed the piece. It looked like a handmade piece. The crescent itself seemed to be the center piece. It just didn't make sense. Who would so precisely make this perfect shape and stick it on such a crudely made cross? It looked like it took some moderate skill. Maybe there was something intelligent in these lands.

Blake didn't seem interested however. It did stand out, but so did a lot of things to her. The monsters that looked like deformed humans with purple skin. The poison the contracted into her body when she stepped into the water. The things that live in the water itself. The bodies. Fire. Her death.

Nothing was special about this.

She lazily kicked the wooden base and was surprised when it just fell over. It broke into jagged pieces on the ground and scattered. Blake was thinking. Nothing makes sense. The tiny land she was standing on was no bigger than a boat. Who put this here and put their time into making it if it could just be knocked over so easily? If it were a grave someone would have at least tried to prevent that. Maybe it was old. It was covered in moss after all. Taking her Gamble shroud she decided to move on. Between each tree she grappled her landing spot and anchored onto it before jumping. The last thing she needed was to fall in that water again.

This place seemed to go on forever. The air carried a thick brown color to it. Eventually the horizon smudged into a brown blur. Tree to tree she kept going. She passed many of the things in the water. They looked like giant slugs with horns. That's probably what they were. She stopped at a tree and watched the creatures below.

The seemed to be gathered around something in the water. What was it? Another corpse? She could see a dull grey arm sticking out of the water. This water seemed deeper. She must be moving inland where the forest would drop.

She didn't have her ammo she used before she died. She had used it on some of the purple monsters. Oddly they had a few forms. Most were feral and crawled along the ground like cats, some stood on their hind legs like people. They even had weapons of some kind. Mostly just sharp sticks of various sizes. And even a shield made of bark and some cloth for wears. She wanted to keep them at a distance, and so she used her ammo executing them. She wanted to observe before she was comfortable in close combat. Good thing they didn't climb trees.

The slugs gurgled around the body. She guessed they were probably predators of this mashed up forest. They were eating a person. At least she thinks it was a person. She could have gone down there and quickly killed them to see what the body had on it, but the last time she had done that she gained this curse, and the fire that kept appearing at random. She remembered it clearly.

 _-Flashback-_

She was running back from the horizon. Desperately trying to find help. The poison contracted into her body and made her feel deathly ill. She had tolerated the pain for so long, but after fighting so many of the monsters, she felt too weak. She knew they didn't like the fire though. Her luck ran out as she failed to find the trees burning. But she found something. In the murky water lay a person. From what she could tell it was a man. He was dressed in animal pelts and a bronze medallion on his head and chest. In one hand clutched to his chest was the tiny ember. In the other outstretched just above the water, was a small flame. It fit calmly in the palm of his hand with his fingers curling around it in his dead grasp.

She stumbled forward to inspect the man. He lay there, his wounds were clear to his death and the poison likely finished him off. But his wounds were different. They were clear slashes and cut into his body. The monsters couldn't do this. Not with their weaponry. Still weak, she saw the fire and looked with desperation. She grabbed at his hand and lifted his arm, surprised to see the flame moved with it. It didn't seem to follow the concept of fire she knew. Cautiously she grabbed at the tiny flame, and lifted it into her hand.

Surprised it didn't burn she cupped it into her hand and stared at it. The delicate flame was as lively as ever. It danced in her hand and seemed to not stop. She looked to the other object in the dead man's hand. A large ember rst in his clutches, almost as if he were trying to protect it. Keep it from something else. She lifted his arm and took it from his grasp. Just like the flame in her palm it didn't burn. Holding them lightly together she saw if there was any interaction between them. She fumbled around with the objects desperate for anything to produce. She was growing increasingly weak and needed didn't think she could handle much more of the forest.

Her aura didn't counter the poison. Her breathing grew ragged. She knew she wouldn't last much longer. Each swing of her weapon required more strength. At best she could run. With her weapon on her back she trudged forward. Land wasn't too far. The trees were scarcer around the outer parts close to the horizon. But she managed to find one. She finally got out of the water. Her boots were dirty. Her clothes not much better. Black blood stained her skin and her clothes. She fell to the ground and leaned up against the base of the tree. She closed her eyes and braced for the worst. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she coughed. Too tired to pay attention she dropped the ember beside her. The flame clung to her hand as she tried to conserve whatever energy she still had.

 _.thud._

A sound drew closer. It was faint now. Her eyes opened long enough to see a figure approaching. Blake's breaths were shallow. She was either going to die or lose consciousness. The figure was tall, armored and human. She noticed a pale cape draping behind it. It carried an incredibly huge sword below it's waist, and a dagger at it's hip. It was walking towards her.

She fell to weak to stop whatever this thing was now. It threw down the dead body of one of the many monsters that roamed the place. She looked up at the person with tired eyes. They had a pointed hat and a face covered up by a very high colar. She only briefly caught a glimpse of their eyes before everything started to darken. She fell to her side in an attempt to move and coughed. She saw the fire in her hand. The ember. And the foot of the person stopping in front of her. They bent down and picked it up.

 _Typical_ , Blake thought.

The last person she sees will be the one to take something from her. She was confused then after when the armored hand grabbed hers and wrapped the ember in her fingers. Forcibly he crushed it against the palm of her hand only for it to disappear. She gasped loudly and caught her breathe only short as the flames danced across her being. Then in a cast of light she felt her soul explode. Still unable to cast her breath, she struggled for air she reached for the air in panic. The flame danced in her hand in front of her. Then it turned black. Then back to it's normal flame.

Behind her hand she saw the person stand again. His posture straightened. He stepped back in what seemed to be surprise. Their eyes made contact one last time before Blake's hand slumped to the ground, and he lifted his sword into the air. Even in one hand he held it without much effort. The last thing Blake saw was the sword coming down. It was quick. It was silent. And afterward it was just dark.

That's when Blake heard the sound. She disappeared when she heard this sound. And it came back when she opened her eyes to see the bonfire. And then, something much worse. Something she had been battling with since her revival.

The thoughts started.

 _-end flashback-_

Blake still sat it the tree looking over the slug creatures in the water.

 _They died a worse death than I did._

And ending that thought she moved on. She stopped the next tree however as something became visible in the brown fog that surrounded everything. There was something built. Some kind of structure fallen over into the water. Taking notice she hurried across from tree to tree until she made it over. It appeared to be a bridge. A broken fallen piece of a bridge. One end lowering into the mud, the other standing up on whatever broken chunk of support came with it. It effectively made a ramp.

Blake hopped off the tree and carefully landed on flat of the bridge. It seemed stable enough. It was made of stone brick. She didn't recognise it from anywhere remotely near the forest. Furthermore she guessed there was more to the bridge. Looking down the opposite end she saw the end going into the water. It wasn't sinking so it didn't just happen to fall here. It had already settled.

 _How did this get here?_

As out of place as it was it was a cornerstone that she might find something nearby. Looking upward she saw nothing it could have possibly fallen off of. Nothing around here seems to have anything to explain how it got here. What's more is she had yet to see any grimm. She could only assume the poison kept them away. But grimm anatomy was unknown. It was always unknown. They could only base it off the creatures they were based from.

Wherever they were she could only hope what happened for her wouldn't apply to them. Or her team. If they managed to survive then maybe there was a chance she could make it out of this hell. Dying isn't an easy task, but neither is living in this place.

Content that she wasn't going to get any answers for the bridge nearby she decided to move on. Surveying the area she could not see any other landmarks to go to. It was back to aimlessly traveling through the trees. Sighing she took gamble shroud in hand and was about to grab to the next tree when she saw, something weird. In the immediate area there was only a single tree that stood out. It was unlike the pine trees that were common in the forest. It was smaller with thicker branches. And hanging from said branches was a giant sack.

She wondered what could be produced from such a large mass. It would only fall straight down into the poison. Even more concerning was that it was placed from a tree. That only meant she was more vulnerable than she thought.

Not wanting to find out she decided it'd be best to hinder it's growth. THrowing gamble shroud she severed the stem attaching it to the branch and watched it fall. It splashed into the water with a gurgle. Whether it would die from poison or from something taking advantage of it being vulnerable, she hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass.

Catching Gamble Shroud again she simply moved onto the next tree. What had she become. She was so against killing. But these things, they weren't people. They weren't even merciful. Everything in this forest or this swamp has only tried to kill her. And they had. She would normally be considerate of taking somethings life. But this changed things. Especially now that she came back.

She had scaled deeper into new territory by now. The trees became more apparent along with the sacks that came with them. She was beginning to lose track of where she was headed. She couldn't even see the sky over these brown fogs.

"This is hopeless", she said to herself. She sat on the branch for just a moment. She focused on the atmosphere. Trying to pick up something with her ears. Anything. She needed some kind of orientation. Removing her bow she closed her eyes and listened. Her right ear twitched.

There was movement. Well there was movement everywhere, but this was slightly stronger. And less stable. She quickly tied her bow back on and headed in the direction of the disturbance. The closer she got the more apparent the noises became. There was a struggle.

She landed on a particularly large tree. She didn't exactly find anything she liked. Below her was a large stretch of land above the water. On it was a deathstalker fighting off an assault from all sides. Blake made sure to stay quiet. She didn't want to draw attention.

The deathstalker was biting, clawing stabbing at a fast pace. Multiple of the purple creatures swarmed the grimm. The massive claws could only keep off so many. It picked up one it each claw, severing one in half and biting the head off the other. It's legs stomped frustratingly keeping from attacking its side and underside. One attempted to crawl up and was crushed to death. It extended its tale and spun around knocking down any behind the giant insect. They recovered too quickly however and began to climb on.

While it continued its assault at the front the purple creatures attacked between each segment. The sticks they used for weapons broke elsewhere but eventually broke the thick armor covering the grimm. The black flesh cracked and broke and bled underneath. The giant insect grimm roared out in a high pitch scream of pain. It managed to shrug off a few before managing to stab a few off its own back with the stinger.

The purple creatures were dwindling in numbers but only seemed to grow more aggressive. The creature's clawed and stabbed at the eyes as they saw vulnerable. Losing sight made the creature thrash and panic. It swung its claws as if they were wrecking balls now becoming more aggressive. It was no doubt getting desperate.

Suddenly Blake heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. Even in the thick water they still carried enough weight to feel the tree shake. To Blake's left approached a giant monstrosity. It carried a head of horns just like the ones that were small and purple did. But it carried a much more sinister look. It had the head of a giant lizard and its flesh almost looked stripped from its body. Its ribcage was practically showing and its entire being was covered in filthy masses of fur or dead plants and thatch. The eyes carried a red hue that loosely matched the color of it's being although a little closer to purple.

And in its grasp was an entire uprooted tree. Long dead by the looks of it. It approached the deathstalker likely getting tired. Poison was going to take effect and being blinded only ensured its doom. The monster approached with menace in its eyes. The death stalker in a wild attempt to save itself grabbed onto the hind legs of the tree wielding beast. The beast seemed to feel no pain as it raised the tree.

The smaller creature backed off and growled at the sight. Almost as if encouraging the larger one. The tree raised and bashed into the death stalkers head. The deathstalker prevailed although not for long. It came down again and again, each time harder than the last trying to break the armored grimms head. The tree splintered and broke in protest until some red masses appeared from its roots.

They took the form of skulls and broke into the death stalkers head armor. It cracked and shrieked under the pain as the tree kept coming down. The creatures massive strength was proving too much. Finally the roots of the tree penetrated the insect's head. It kept going however. The shrill cries grew quieter with each smash. Eventually there were no cries and the deathstalker grew limp. It kept going however, now grinding the inside of its brain with the roots of the trees. It heaved one last heavy slam into the grimms now squashed head until it got stuck, then ripped it out in and giant explosion of blood and yellow substance. The grimm then died.

The giant creature gave a triumphant roar signaling its execution. The smaller ones did the same and flung their limbs about in excitement. They had just killed it. As the body started to smoulder and turn to black smoke Blake had decided she'd seen enough. She had best leave before they catch wind of her presence. Before she left however she saw the sky opened up. The fog no longer covered everything at distance and she could now see what was not there before.

The sky was filled with a darker atmosphere than the grey one she had found recently. And towering above her were three massive towers. If she had to guess, somehow were related to the bridge in some way. They spanned a great distance, although reachable in her eyes. Then she watched in curiosity as one of the three of them carrying a fire, went out.

The roars and growls of the monsters below brought her attention back. Wherever the towers were relatively, that meant someone had put out the fires. She could assume, but it was all she had. That's where she was going.

 **Okay. So that was the first chapter for Blake. I know it took a while to finally get her and I'm sorry about that. But time has been taxing. And I'm not doing so great. But beyond that, this chapter may or may not strike you as incredibly eventful. This chapter requires a little bit of lore knowledge to understand what's actually going on. Specifically the link between humanity and the abyss, and a little about the black flame and Abyss watchers. And oh boy someone put out one of the Farron fires before her. Care to take a stab at who it is? Well, it's probably not who you think. Just like Blake experiencing her first death. If you didn't like this chapter I don't blame you, it was kind of done in a different way than my usual ones. And people don't' like change. But rest assure I will make a lot more happen within the next few chapters. I hope you all enjoyed. At least a little bit. No? Ah whatever I'm talking to nobody probably. Until next time.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Skip past the bold if you don't want to read my notes.**

 **Hi people. Feeling better. Will start producing more content at a faster pace. Especially now that my summer classes are over. Never take voluntary classes for college. Total waste of time. At least in my experience. I already knew the entire courses worth of information so I just kinda sat there and got an A, then walked home and got tired. And that was my entire college summer session. I guess if you have ambition for that kinda stuff go for it but seriously my state is supposed to have like some of the best colleges in the U.S and I already knew everything in the course book without evening opening it. Just wasted time. Anyway that's just my brief update so my time management will be better from now on at least until the fall classes start. School sucks. I'd rather just be starting my career rather than running through meaningless math and literature Shut up me. Try and be humble. At least I have electives. Enjoy the chapter. Also. Blake's weapon by far is the most confusing. The mechanics of it just don't make sense. I'm no super engineer, but I know for a fact that the blade of a katana at that goddamn length doesn't just disappear into the size of a fucking knife, like wtf happened to the rest of that weapon. The law of conservation of mass just doesn't support how that shit happens. Then again nothing anime ever makes sense. Just ask anyone about Superman vs Goku. Every side is just fucking wrong. Enough of my rambling. Interestingly though I didn't know Monty made the weapons stick to their back with magnetic strips. It's clever seeing as though Halo uses the same mechanic for holding guns. And he did make Haloid. That certainly clears things up. Random shit sticking to people's back would have annoyed the shit out of me. Ok now this got too long. I need to shut up. Here' the chapter.**

Blake had a dream. Not a dream persay, but something she envisioned. She could no longer sleep, so dreams were no longer possible. But her mind projected something for her to experience still. It was no hallucination. No daydream. She couldn't afford to have something of the sort here. She would no doubt get killed. It was almost a memory. A foreign memory. All the senses were there. Like she had experienced it herself.

It only struck her once. But when it had, it made her feel sick. She was standing at the edge of some stone cliff. The area in front of her was nothing but a void. A large circular void was claiming the world ahead. It grew in size until it could swallow a building. She was just something in it's ever expanding wake now. It grew louder and louder, but the darkness never stretched thin. It only became darker the more she looked into it. Why hadn't she moved? Why hadn't she looked away? She couldn't. She wasn't there. The shadows swallowed her as she fell. There was no sound, There was no sight. There was just the darkness taking over. Deeper and deeper as she fell into the abyss.

Blake's ears twitched. She blinked at the stimulation. This place was never still. The swamp never rested and her ears picked up everything. She dismissed the vision planted in her mind. Whatever force that seemed to be dwelling there didn't seem to be bothering her at the moment. She needed to take advantage of that. She had found the tower. At the top of a mound of dirt and stairs. Several purple creatures were dead when she arrived. She guessed that was a good thing. But that also meant something else was here to kill them.

She stepped up to a small fireplace. It was warm to the touch, but not warm enough. Whoever had been her had left. The time she took to get here probably meant they had moved on from this location quite far. She looked to the sky.

There were only two more towers. Another had gone out shortly before she arrived. She can't make sense of any direction here because each tower was in an obscure direction from the last. To put it simply they were in a triangle. So unless someone was lucky enough or unlucky enough to just stumble across these towers, that meant they were going to them directly. But why? Who or what needed to put out a fire? They kept these things away. Her eyes widened in realization. They had killed the purple things. She turned to the dead body of one nearby.

She had no name for these things. She could just call them demons, but that was a broad term. They weren't grimm. Just human like monsters. So monsters they would have to stay. This monster she approached was one of the more animalistic ones. It had no weapon of cloth. It probably just crawled and clawed like the rest. She had even managed to find one in between the two however. It walked upright like the ones with weapons but simply jumped at its enemies. Mostly her.

She inspected the body. Blood was long since spilled but she tried not to touch the dried blood anyway. The wounds were long slashes and cuts along limbs. Even long stab wounds through the torso. Weiss or Ruby could replicate these wounds. And so could she. They clearly had good weaponry. Far above the rotten wooden spears and swords the monsters used. Maybe the one that killed her? It's possible. Lot's of things were possible. Not to be cliche, but Blake had a methodology for expecting the unexpected.

She expected nothing. Anything expected, was no longer unexpected. That's the way she liked to keep it.

She thought back to when she first died. Was that person being merciful or merciless? If either the case she wasn't going to let that happen again. She looked to all the dead bodies.

 _Will they come back?_

Stepping over the bodies she sighed. Not like it mattered. She would just have to kill them again.

' _Vwoosh_ '

The noise actually caught her ears this time. They tiny flame sparked in her hand again. It was black this time. She just kind of stared at it. It was the only thing she could do to make it go away. She just held her hand below her gaze. She turned her hand over and watched it dance as it shifted around to always stay on top. Fire always moves up. Good to know gravity didn't change. She had tried to interact with it. The only thing she found she could do mas move it from hand to hand. It was like a muscle. The more she practiced it the less effort it took. She focused the presence in her other hand and watched as the flame went out and appeared in the other hand almost instantly.

It was a neat little thing. She had no special name for this either. But she could only perform this trick a few little times. It was like something out of the imagination. If she believed it was there, there it was. But eventually it took strength and some effort from flexing her literal hand itself. Soon after it just disappeared. She assumed it was because she couldn't identify the link between her and it. It was like magic. If you didn't know magic, you can't do it. It was the only thing she could compare it to. Remember seeing cartoon of super heroes or anime where characters used some kind of special power? Then you tried to perform it yourself and it never worked no matter how much special power or energy you put in it? Well this was the opposite.

Blake actually knew there was a special power she could use to make this appear. She just didn't know what it was. She had to learn. Because the strength in her hand wouldn't be enough to preventing it from disappearing. She flicked it over into her left hand. It was only then could she feel the presence of the flame in a different form.

One of the monsters on the ground was still alive. It gripped at her leg with its boney, skinny hands. It's fingers were cold and gripped her hard just like the sudden fear gripped her herself. She gasped in surprise and turned around. She tried to pull her leg from its grasp but couldn't. Trying to reach the weapons on her back she struggled and fell over. Still with the monster gripping onto her ankle it gave a gross grunt as the dying creature held on for whatever reason. She tried to push herself away with her hands. But the sudden fear coming with the surprise couldn't manage to let her off her back. Panicking the first reaction she had was to bring her leg closer to herself it hopes of the monster not severing off her ankle.

Unfortunately the monster came with it. As the monster neared her body she instinctively held up one of her hands in an attempt to keep it's head away from biting her ankle off. What happened next she couldn't imagine would actually come from the tiny flame. She let out a short scream of shock, and in response the flame grew. It grew into a thick, dark black mass and burned with her fear. And almost as if it screamed with her, the fire exploded forward and flushed over the monster's face in a roar of flames. The monster gave a quick low gurgling scream before falling limp a dying in front of her.

She lay on one arm on the dirty ground keeping her back just off the dirt. She held her hand in place just like she had when she cast the flame. The small combustion was short and quickly faded just as fast as the monster's life. It was black. Just like the flame. She gasped suddenly realising she stopped breathing. She turned her palm over to her face to look at the flame in her hand. She quickly looked to the monster, to the flame, and then back and forth again. Double taking she realized that yes, she actually had done that. Standing up rather fast she steadied her breathing and just looked at the damned thing once more.

 _What are you?_

The fear subsided and the flame grew tinier and tinier again until it was in it's original size and eventually disappeared. She kept looking to the freaking monster she just burned and then tried to conjure the flame once more. And just like a kid once more, she forced her hand forward in an attempt to bring forth the power she had just seen.

"Come on… come on…..!"

Failing to bring forth the flame again she grew frustrated. "What the hell is wrong with this? It grows with fear?!"

Suddenly it exploded with anger again. This time it wasn't as powerful, and wasn't black. But the flame burst from her hand just like before. But it responded with a different force. The thing danced in her hand uncertainly. It flickered with it's light battling the blackness until it died again. Blake drew in a deep breath. She didn't understand this thing. It only came when certain sensations arise. Anger was one of the feelings she was scarce of, and frankly so was fear. The reason she read so much was to pick up on those feeling in a way she couldn't. They were so buried underneath her dedication and her duty she was practically pushing back her human side to achieve what she knew she never could.

And that's when the flame dwindled. She tried to understand this. But the only thing she could link to this flame were these feelings. And she would never let her feelings get in the way.

Frustratingly, she dismissed the new experience at the sudden change in atmosphere. The third towers fire finally went out. She looked up with concern. It had gone out in the time it took her to get here, and then mess around with this new fire. So soon? She was wasting time. She looked at the moon once more. The piece that moved in place, the fires going out in the sky, the world crashing together. The flame that appeared in her hands. This had to mean something. Something was happening. Maybe this place could start to make sense after all.

' _Vwoosh_ '

She looked at her hand again. And this time, she made the fire herself.

 _Maybe there is a reason._

Blake felt better. Different, but better. Suddenly, she heard a loud shifting. Two large forces were moving slowly in the distance. By the sense of the sound, she could tell whatever they were, were moving with a lot of force behind them. Suddenly a gust of wind blew forward. It picked up leaves of the musk of the swamplands it's direction. The wind was strong enough to pick up her hair and make her close her eyes. She shielded her face with her arms in an attempt to keep her eyes open. Then, it stopped. Just as fast as it came, it left. Blake looked around. She hadn't left the spot she was standing. She was still about to leave the first fire tower, still over the monster whose face she burned, still just standing there. Then the wind came back.

' _Kill them'_

It whispered in her ear with menace. No, into her mind. She quickened her breath as the wind kept steady. Whatever it was that kept the wind coming, was telling her to go in that direction. But who? Who did she need to kill?

Blake took off in a sudden bolt in that same direction. The wind blowing against her face being the only guide for as to where she needed to go. Her eyes narrowed like that of a stalking predator. Both her ears were listening. For anything. Only picking up the wind constantly moving against her she was ever vigilant. She didn't know what was drawing her to wherever she was going, but she knew it was a force she hadn't felt before. Through water and dirt and trees she didn't care about staying off the ground. She only ran past whatever got in her way in an attempt to get there faster.

 _Where where where? Where is it?!_

A light flared in the distance. It was a fire. She could see this. She ran, and jumped and dashed even faster. Finally she arrived. There were two giant stone doors, pushed open by whatever unknown force. This was what she heard. This is where the wind came from. There were three lit fires covering the land before the door in stone dishes. She wasn't here fast enough. They had already gone through. She drew her weapons. The path forward split off into different directions, going up to god knows where.

Taking her first step forward she fell forward onto one knee. An immediate haze took over her. She was sensing something. The haze left and she had a moment of clarity. Turning around she looked to see where it is she was exactly. She was only going further into this swamp. But there were so many things she had just skimmed right over. Behind her was another bridge sloped into the water, leading up into another stone brick structure. More swamp, and another stone brick structure she had completely passed over. This didn't make sense. Why didn't she remember seeing this? She had felt the calling of her soul to this very spot only for her to realize, everything else was dead.

She heard the screams of the things up ahead. The pain, the terror, everything became present. Where was she? What was this place? She had just come to this very spot to up till now, everything else was dying and being killed. Should she really go forward? Was this calling to her what everything else in this swamp was feeling? Right up until the point it died?!

She heard more blood curdling screams. Some were different. Not just the monsters she was used to. The path before her was lit with a new light. Everything for Blake changed all of a sudden. Behind her was everything cleared out by a force other than herself. She could very well die again. Should she really be going any further into rotten forest? Even the forest itself was dying. She looked back. The path back to her fire she came from was a long one back. Everything, at least almost everything was dead in its way. She could just go back. And rest at her fire. But then why did she feel the need to go through this stone gate?!

' _Clang'_

Her heart beat faster.

' _Slash'_

Her eyes searched for an answer.

' _Scrape'_

She walked forward.

' _Ring'_

She drew her sword. She didn't know what lied ahead. She knew it was something bad. Something she couldn't explain allowed her to know. She felt what was up ahead. There were some things this world couldn't prepare her for. But this was one of them. What she wasn't prepared for is what came after.

The path ahead was long and dirt mostly. There were stones making steps. The stairs only lead to more dirt. She kept climbing the path until she reached a new sight. There was a clear stone brick pathway leading to the place. This was where she was being called to. The giant huge building. There were bodies. Some of new creatures. Some of the purple monsters. Then something she didn't expect to see.

There was a person clawing along the ground. Heading along the path to where the doors of the massive building lie. The doors were calling her. The blood ran along the path they crawled. They weren't the purple monster, and they weren't the body she had just stepped over. It had no wings, and had no spears or sticks, and now, not even its legs. It had dark black almost dark charcoal like armor. It almost seemed immortal in its struggle to keep going forward. It's wide sword in hand it tirelessly dragged forward.

Blake slowly approached the dying thing. She attempted to touch it but was met with a low grunt, almost as if threatening her. It was in no condition to do so. Lazily swinging its sword it an attempt to fend her off, Blake kicked it's sword away. She then kicked it's shoulder and flipped it over onto it's back.

It's face looked like a representation of death itself. It scowled at her. Its hand glowed a bright pale from a red substance on it's hand. It reached for her in an attempt to grab her, but blake just bat it's hand away with her sheath. Stepping on its arm to hold it still she held her sword to its throat.

"What, is this place? What am I?!", Blake demanded.

The thing only gave a strange noise as it groaned and died. She had heard something. Something she didn't want to believe. She had heard in it's low groan of distress the word _**"Red"**_

It's limbs fell limp. It died just like the rest of the life around here. It was the thing she was most familiar right now. Except the thought that came back with the color she thought she heard.

' _Red…'_

She let out a shaky breath as she uttered the words she tried not to think.

"Ruby…?"

Blakes heart was beating wildly out of her chest. No. She couldn't. It couldn't be Ruby right? She can't be the one she felt this evil link to. The fire in Blake grew too intense. It formed outside her closed hand around her weapon. It didn't grow. It stayed on her hand. But it surged darker and stronger than ever. Without realising it Blake walked towards the open doors that lead into the building. The sounds were loud. The clashing of steel sounded. So many bangs of splashes sounded from within her calling.

She didn't want to go forth. She didn't want to go in there. Especially if it was Ruby. Because if it was Ruby, if she was the source of this corrupted voice in her head, she would have to kill her.

Her heart shook, her breath shuddered and her gaze fell down. She felt it. She knew she had a link with someone that was in there. Something screamed at her not to go in there. But another told her she needed to stop this. There were some kind of forces in there that she had to stopped. There were two strong presences in there. She didn't know which one she had to kill. But she had to stop one of them. Her soul demanded it. And she stepped into the building.

She could feel her heart. Her senses falter. She knew the person. Someone she cared for very much. Suddenly the clashing stopped, and a huge sword pierced the flesh of the only other person in the room standing. The blood spilled to the puddles on the floor making horrifically huge pools. There were far too many bodies she saw in there. The amounts of blood everywhere were ridiculous. This was the root of the evil. But this gave her the same feeling as the memory she had. The one forced into her mind. Being swallowed by the abyss, not being able to stop from being drawn her in. This was the abyss. This is what was calling her. The roaring in her ears, the wind calling from the swamp, the blackness, the blood. It all made sense to her now. This was her abyss.

But she knew if she went in there, she would never leave the same. Maybe she would never leave at all even. A scream welled up in her throat, but could never find it's way out. It was his name. Then the other thrusted his sword farther through his chest. And he gave out a bloody, coughing scream.

Tears welled up in her eyes. And he fell to the floor. The one who was responsible turned to her. It was him. The one who had killed her. The bodies on the floor were almost identical. But she could tell. She could see it in his eyes. The same hat, sword, dagger and armor donned in realization. She had found the person who killed her. And now, she had found him killing the one person she expected to never see again. At least not in the likes of this.

"ADAM!"

And Blake's flame would never return from black.

 **I'm sorry this chapter is short. But the next will be a long chapter. I promise. This chapter was focused solely on development of Blake's character. I have a plan for each character. Their paths are separate, but they are bound by fate here. There will only be more darkness in the future. Hence the fate of the dark soul. But hey, Blake finally showing some humanity right? Both in the literal way and the dark souls way. It's ironic right? The one who strives for equality between both races is the most human in nature, but tries to hide it anyway? At least I think it's ironic. Blake tries to distance herself from literal human qualities so much, she tries to find the things she hides in her books. I know. Because I'm the same way. Blake used to be my favorite character until season 4 where she started acting weird and her face made the expressions of characters from star fox. Now it's Qrow. Also pretty close. Except, ya know, he buries it in alcohol. But everythings good in moderation….. Blake is not gonna be in moderation. Just a heads up. Until next time everyone. So like, a few days. See ya.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Don't wanna read my notes, skip the bold. You know the drill.**

 **Hi to whoever is reading this. I'm gonna put a little extra time into this chapter and try to make up for the last one being shorter. Otherwise I don't have much else to say. From this chapter onward I'm not gonna give authors notes unless it's about a status update strictly for the story. The person I am in real life wouldn't even tell you that, but oddly enough I tend to project myself better not in person. So this is the last message I'm writing. Hope you hear it. I'm a person with a lot of problems. One of them being insecurity. I feel the need to interact indirectly for some reason as a source for driving my writing. That's not what I want. I want to write because I want to. Because the at end of the day satisfaction from a personal achievement is getting harder to scrape up, just like the inspiration for writing. So to put it a little more simply, no more of me talking before the chapters, or after or well, anything much of that source. I think it's making me anxious whether or not someone is listening, or cares or ever is gonna see it. I'm gonna block myself off from that in hopes of pushing my limits a little higher, and making me actually want to write again instead of it feeling like a chore. So, goodbye and not goodbye. At least for now.**

"No…"

She already screamed his name so loud. It was all she could afford to say. She stared at his body. He slumped to the ground covered in black veins. They covered his mask, his weapons, his flesh. He was being consumed by it. How long had he been here? How long was Adam here? He had just been defeated, yet he was covered in blood and whatever this black substance was. But these doors were just opened. The stone gate, the fires. How was he consumed by this so fast?

She nearly choked on her breath. Her wind left her with the words. Tears built up in her eyes. She didn't want this. Adam was her her friend once. He wasn't evil. She believed that. She really did. Why couldn't he ever see this is what she wanted to avoid? She wanted a world with peace.

 _Why? Why couldn't he-_

She froze. He turned to look at her. The knight. The assassin. She didn't know what he was. He was a killer. The one who slayed her. The one who slayed her friend. Blake looked up. Her hands still covered her mouth from her scream.

"Why? Why did you do that?"

He didn't answer. He only stared at her. His red eyes looked at her but she couldn't tell what they held. Everything in this world was different. She never thought she would see anyone she knew again. And this? This menace? The strive to kill still existed? Was this some kind of cruel fate at the hand of karma? In this world killing shouldn't have mattered. She came back from death. But here she was, on the verge of tears, because the person who deserved it most finally was killed himself. She wouldn't stand for this. This went against everything she stood for, but she couldn't let him live.

Blake drew her swords. The greatsword wielder did not hesitate. There was no answer. He only drew his sword and ran toward her. Blake had little time to react and he stabbed toward her with incredible speed. The sword passed right by her face as he lept across the other side of the room. She stepped aside and slip into the center of the room. Her boots skid across the blood as she nearly tripped over the bodies.

In her dodge she managed to cut his arm. She should have severed his tendon, or at least slowed him down. But he was just as fast. He swung back into his right and cleared the gap between them almost instantly. She ducked as the giant sword crossed over her and jumped onto his chest as it was thrust her way just as fast. She landed two huge slashes through his face and throat with her swords and kicked back off his chest.

She landed near the back of the open room where adam lay. The watcher was unaffected almost completely still.

 _How does he keep this up?! He doesn't have aura, and blood has gone everywhere! What is keeping him alive?_

Blake couldn't understand what kept the things in this world alive. There wounds seemed to not lessen their strength at all. But they don't use their soul the way her world does. How are they so strong?

The watcher recovered quickly and slowly approached. Blake shifted her weapon and emptied a few bullets into his chest, arms and head but didn't stop his stride in the slightest. He moved forward, slower now. And she felt something on her foot.

Adam's fingered glove grabbed her boot and received her attention. "Blake", he choked out. Her eyes widened. He had been run through with an giant unwieldy huge sword. How could he still be alive. To her ever unexpecting eyes he planted his katana into the ground, and supported himself up. Her mouth was agape.

"Leave…"

To stunned to do anything she hadn't had the time to see the strike coming right for her. Adam shoved her aside and and blocked the incoming strike. She watched as time slowed and the greatsword pushed past the katana with such force causing sparks to fly. She fell over. Too much was overwhelming her for her to pay attention to her footing. Adam leaned in and slid past the attack and stabbed the watcher straight into the chest. He then spun around the hilt going around the watcher as well, and ripped it straight through his side. Adam resheathed his weapon now behind the abyss watcher as it fell over. Blood sprayed from the wound and managed to hit Blake. Her outfit was covered in blood, but that would never be helped. Not unless she got to the fire again.

"I said to leave!", he turned and shouted at her. The black veins covered his entirety. His mask looked like it was practically shattered on the front. Blake wanted to do something, but she couldn't.

"Are you like them?", He asked grabbing his sword hilt. "If I have to kill you too I swear to god I will! I was prepared to from the moment you betrayed me!"

"What?", was all she managed to say. She couldn't get up. She couldn't believe it. He strode over slowly and drew Wilt. He raised the sword in one hand and picked her up by her shirt. Her eyes were wide with fear. "I had to take their souls. I'll take yours too", he said meeting her eyes through his mask. He thrust his weapon through her only to be met with a disappearing shadow. Blake stood before him with her weapons draw at her sides. She only looked on as the greatsword was stabbed through him once more.

He was lifted into the air and sunk down into the blade. Adam grunted in pain and spit out a mix of black and red blood, before being flung to the side like a brick. He smacked to the wall. Blake didn't know if he would get back up after that one.

The watcher flicked off the blood from his sword to his right and looked at Blake menacingly. Blake ran toward him, but the watcher with inhuman speed thrust toward her, and even through her shadow. The wound broke most of her aura. How could she be so low? She hadn't met so many enemies. Adam had killed them, right?

She rushed up from the floor in a back flip as the sword slammed down in her place. The watcher continued his assault and all Blake could do was dodge. The reach and speed of the weapon was unnatural. Adam _just_ managed to block an attack directed at her. He was unmatched in speed in strength with anyone who wielded such a sword she had ever seen. With one hand no less.

She managed to duck under the blade and slid across the floor slashing at his leg. She recovered and spun firing a purple wave of energy his way. She was only surprised when Adam stepped in the way and absorbed the attack with his sword at his back.

"I told you to leave", he said facing the watcher. He slashed straight into his back. The watcher staggered. "These people aren't like you", he slashed behind his knee. "But you'll become like one of them", he fired off the remaining energy he absorbed. The red left his body and clothes as he dispersed the energy from Blake's small attack. The abyss watcher flung forward and Adam stabbed his sword straight through his back.

"What do you mean? Who are these people, what's going on ?!", Blake asked quickly.

"There is no _people_! There's only these things! Everything here doesn't use their soul like we do! They don't die, they don't stop fighting, and they don't grow weak! They only die when you take their soul _from them!_ " (I know, serious plot hole right? It's not an exact answer, but it's a basic theory.)

He turned back to her and marched over, but stopped before she thought he was going to attack her. "I told you to leave. I suggested you'd take the option mercifully before they turn you into one of them like me", he leaned in. "I should be killing you anyway. But this isn't a place for you. Not like how you are now. You haven't been corrupted like this yet", he said taking off his mask The veins spread to his eye. While the left held it's normal color, the right was touched by the darkness snaking over his skin, and began glowing a horrible violent red. His mask fell to the floor, as Blake stepped back.

"What happened to you?!", Blake said loudly. Her flame sprouted above her hand without her realizing it. She clutched her swords in fear of the worst.

"The abyss, cannot leave this Room! It's already touched you! Once they touch your blood you'll be consumed!", he said grabbing his face. "Don't you see Blake? Once it grabs you it will kill you! No matter how hard you fight against it, it will take your soul and use it to fight against you!"

He looked back up at her. His eye was dangerously close to becoming the same as the right one. "Go Blake. Leave!", he said stepping toward her. He grabbed his sword almost shakily.

"What are you talking about? He's going to kill y-"

"He already has! I've been killing and getting killed for days! Why do you think I killed the ones in here?!"

Blake's eyes widened. Days? He had been here, fighting for days? Wandering this swamp, killing all these people that lay on the floor, the monsters, the grimm. Everything here, he had killed and been killed by for days on end.

"How?! I've only died once and this only started a day or two ago?"

"You were brought back slower", he said stepping toward her. She backed up with every step. "The fire. It brought you back right? And everything else was new again? Right? You were steeped in greater strength. Your soul, you still have your aura. It wither away each time until you're like one of them! The only way you survive is by taking their soul and getting stronger. You get weaker with every death!"

"What happens after? What happens when you run out of strength?", Blake was shouting. He knew more about this world than she does. He knew the answers. He could tell her, he could fix this!

"You become ha-"

Adam wasn't able to finish. A sword plunged deep into his chest for the third time. Blake screamed. The greatsword she had come to dread was no setting ablaze. He was slung to the floor for a third time. The abyss watcher, had crawled over in agony all the way until he reached Adam, just to run him through while he wasn't looking again. Blake watched as the blood would rise from the bodies and begin to draw near the watcher. Was this what Adam was talking about? He was taking their souls? If he killed Adam, he would only gain the strength from him as well. Then why hadn't she taken hers? When he first killed her?

"Blake…", Adam muttered on the ground. Blake looked to the watcher as he kneeled on the ground watching the blood flow toward him. She ran over to Adam. She held her weapons on her back in her best attempt to inspect her wound. But what good could she do? He had already taken such fatal blows before, how could she stop him from dying anymore than he could?

"Blake. Take my soul. And the ones before mine. The ones I've killed. Take them, and kill him. Your aura's going to leave you eventually. It's the only way", he said clutching his wounds quietly.

"What do you mean? Adam I don't know what you mean by that! I know how to do these things!", Blake said practically crying. He grabbed Wilt and ripped it from the ground beside him, and thrust it into her hands. He gripped the blade himself and positioned it to his heart.

"Kill me."

"No!"

"Do it before I have to kill you!", he said glaring at her.

"Adam I don't want to kill you! I don't want to hurt anyone! You know I just wanted-"

"Blake", he cut her off. "That world doesn't exist anymore. You need to kill him! You need to kill me. You can't let him take me. He'll take me, then he'll take you. There is no world to make equal anymore. There's just these things a dark world, and the souls you need to take from them.", he said gripping the sword in her hands tighter.

"We're stronger than them", he said looking toward the watcher. His sword was burning brighter and brighter each passing second. It was nearly engulfed in fire. "Our souls, our aura. We we're stronger than them in the beginning. We're stronger than them together. But not like this", he said looking to his wounds. "You were cursed too. We will become like them, and our soul does just the same. It's in our blood now."

"How do you know all this?!", Blake managed to say between the distress in her voice.

"The blood", her showed her his hand. "The dark soul. The abyss showed me when my blood mixed with theirs. It's all the same. But he's getting stronger. The abyss is taking over us. You have to kill us Blake!", he spat up some blood.

"But I-"

"I'm sorry", he said. Blake was clearly shaken. Necessary or not she never wanted to kill Adam. "I can forgive you, if you kill him. And if you kill me. You always wanted to take care of everyone else. Take care of yourself Blake. So you can take care of anyone else who's left alive.", he said. His tone was different now. It was quiet. He was trying to say goodbye on good terms. Better than she did. He was giving her an answer. She would get the closer he never had.

The abyss watcher was now embered. He was regaining strength. With no more blood to consume, the souls of his brethren were with him. His sword was planted firmly in the ground, and he was rising.

"Do it Blake", he pleaded. The abyss watcher stood.

"Do it!", he shouted. He grabbed the blade end and moved it towards the center of his heart. Blake couldn't stop shedding tears. She was holding the blade shakily trying to bring the will to kill her friend with his weapon. She couldn't find it in her tears. So she did what Yang would have done, and took the strength from her anger. She screamed, closed her eyes and pushed down. The blade sent straight through into his heart. There were no words. No gasps. Just her screaming till her lungs ran out. Her quiet sobs we're beginning to be drowned out from the surging of the flame in the being to her side.

Her flame disappeared, and with it something new came out. Blake only just managed to open her eyes to see the light red flicker travel up the blade. She watched it grow in brightness until it rested atop the hilt of the sword and rest on her hands. It almost took the shape of the flame that accompanied her hand too. She grew quiet. She picked it up and held it close. This was his. It was adam's soul. All the strength he had left rested in her hands. And all the ones she had taken with it, and his would give her the strength she needed to survive this encounter.

"I'm sorry", she whispered. She held the tiny red light steeped in strength to her chest, and absorbed into her body. The abyss watcher stood finally and swung his sword across his view, almost as if testing his strength again. Blake didn't look at him. She removed the sword from Adam's chest.

"You made me do this", she said aloud. "You've killed me, and now you've made me kill my friend. You've corrupted him into this monster, and now he can't come back", she said looking up to him. The black flame spread along Wilt. Her fire surged in strength until the red could no longer be seen. The red had left to her eyes. She stood with Wilt in both hands. She readied herself.

"I can't let you leave this place", she held the blade up level to her eyes (A/N: Ko Gasumi in case you were wondering the name of the position. You're welcome(I don't know why I just happen to know sword positions)).

"I will not let you live!"

The watcher didn't respond. From the other end of the room his gaze met hers. Their eyes intensely red met only for a few seconds. They dashed forward with incredible speed. The bells tolled once more and the voices of the dead sang as the two who bared the fire fought to the death. She was faster now. Stronger. But the watcher gained incredible power from all of the fallen brethren Adam had slain. Had adam taken their souls as well, maybe she would keep up. Maybe she could rise above. But she was back to struggling as much as before. They were bonded by blood. Blake was bonded from the soul(A/N: If you know the lore, this is accurate. There basically the same and not at the same time. Hence why Adam hadn't couldn't do what's stated above).

Adam was unmatched with his Katana, and the the watcher with his greatsword. The blood of Artorias bonded their soul forever. Blake still wasn't strong enough, even with Adam's strength. But she was faster. Much faster.

The watcher, spun and dashed and slashed, with each strike leaving fire in it's path. As each one fell Blake blocked, dodged, and attacked only when an opening made itself available. Attacking the vitals made no difference. She wouldn't wear tire him. She would only win after so many strikes. She had to destroy him completely. His soul would be hers.

Another spin, and a wave of fire passed her as she flipped backwards. Before he could swing again Blake lunged forward like an animal. She slashed at his torso and slid behind him skidding on her boots and hand. She raised Wilt with one hand and attacked from behind. He swung all the way around, and she disappeared. With each strike missed, a black flame crossed where Blake struck. Every swing the watcher took was too slow. The fire could catch none but her shadows. And each was an opening. Blake aimed for his limbs, staggering with each strike. She danced around him like a feral animal in shadows and black fire.

 _Miss_

She attacked his leg.

 _Miss_

She cut through his gauntlet.

 _Miss_

She ran the sword through his knee and lifted him up by the blade. The blade slashed out of his kneecap taking the armor and splitting the flesh and bone with it. No amount of strength from soul or blood or fire alike could save him now. He fell back on his knees and leaned back on one arm. His sword fell to the ground. He saw Blake coming in with Wilt and tried to swat away her attack, but was nowhere near fast enough. Blake screamed as she ran him through. He dropped the dagger on gripped the hilt.

"Ahhhhhhh!", Blake kept running. The katana ran deeper into his chest and eventually lifted him off his knees. She slammed it into the wall behind him, and then drove it further. Wilt cracked and broke the stone through his body and impaled him onto the bloody stone wall. Too low to stand on his feet he kicked his feet tiredly as his weight dorve the blade up his chest. He gripped the handle in pain in an attempt to pull it out. Blake drew out her Gamble Shroud. The fire left Wilt and left to her. She hacked and slashed relentlessly yelling with each strike. She unravelled.

"You killed him! You made me do it! You monster! How could you?! You Monster, You bastard!", tears filled her eyes. Each blood splatter strike of her swords only made her feel worse. She leapt back and swung her swords around to release a strike of her signature attack. What should have been purple energy was stained with the black fire. The ground shattered and burned in its path, then exploded into the enemy in front of her.

The watcher still struggled after writhing from the fire. She could see his face. His burned face read no more expression as he was so charred. He was destroyed and yet some how still lived.

"I loved him!", she threw her sword at his head. It struck into the wall beside his head. "I'll kill you!", she threw her other sword. It landed on the other side of his face. She walked with menace in each of her steps. Her hair was burning black, just like Yang's. She was about to end this.

She grabbed the sword on the left side of her hand and angled it toward his neck with her left hand. She grabbed her other sword with her right and unmounted it from the wall, dragging it to the the other his necks other side. Then, in one swift motion she uncrossed her arms, his head fell to the floor as her sword scraped off the wall. Blood left in it's trail.

Her sword was held in the air as she tried to register what she had just done. Her eyes never left the spot she just saw his burned head. Her breaths were short but heavy. She was no longer crying, but the streaks were still along her eyes. The red glow was gone and her irises returned to amber. The black glow of the fire was no longer present in her hair or her weapons. Her body ignited and in a flash, she was surrounded by the firelight again. Her ember had been restored.

She shuddered as her position came back to reality. She couldn't breathe. Her look of anger was replaced with distraught. She dropped her weapons. Her teeth clenched. She couldn't believe it. So much hate. So much anger. She'd never felt this before. She fell to her knees and grabbed her sides. She won't cry. Not again.

 _Is this what Yang feels in such anger? Is this what Adam felt? This need to kill…_

She had gone against everything she tried to represent. She was peaceful. She was quiet. She never wanted this. She wanted peace. She never tapped into this hatred. She would never thrive in this. She felt sick. She stood and grabbed her weapons and returned them to their rightful place on her back.

The Abyss Watcher's body vanished into a flash of white lights and a ringing sounded signalling his death. She had made sure he wouldn't be coming back. Blake felt nothing. His soul rest somewhere within her now, along with Adam's and all the one's they took. She didn't feel stronger. She felt no different at all. Just alone. More alone than before.

She turned and saw something on the floor. It was Adam's mask. Bloodied and covered in black veins of the abyss. She took Wilt in hand from once in the wall and grabbed the mask far across the floor. Looked to where Blush was. There was no ammo in the weapon. No Adam either. He had left just like the watcher had. She couldn't even give him a proper burial. Sniffing she walked over and picked up the weapon. The ground beneath it was bloody and she couldn't see the surface beneath it. Striking Wilt into the ground, she cut the ribbon off his mask and tied it around the handle. She lay his mask and his weapon Blush on the ground in front of it.

She felt she should say a prayer. But it would do no good. His soul would go nowhere.

"I'm sorry. I feel like I should give you more, but I can only give you this."

Blake reached behind her and unsheathed her katana. She looked at the other half of Gamble shroud. The sheath part of her weapon made up the other half of gamble shroud. They were a paired katana's. But she got Adam's strength and his swordsman skills as well.

' _Crack'_

She struck the bigger half of Gamble shroud behind Wilt. The two swords crossed in an X. She stepped back and wiped her face. Her ears twitched. "One more thing."

She brought her hands up to her head and gently took of the ribbon tying the bow on her head. Just like she had done the same with Wilt, she tied her ribbon around the handle of her weapon. They fell gently to the ground, then lifted in the wind. It blew in from the door she walked through. The one she had found open when she thought Adam died the first time. She looked to the spot where she had saw it happen, as a sound resonated in it's place. The fire was here. It followed her.

She slowly walked toward the fire and sat down like she once had. It seemed like so long ago. It couldn't have been more than… god she didn't know how long. A day at most. An hour at least. Time slipped by differently here.

She sat at the fire. The sword was there two. The stupid coiled sword. It was like it was mocking her.

"Please… just let me sleep. I'm tired. I don't wanna stay awake any longer. Let me rest", she said forcing herself not to cry. She had just killed her best friend. And another. And done everything she wanted to avoid in life. She was exhausted. Yet she still wasn't exhausted enough to let something like this make her cry. But she wouldn't. She had to be strong. Stronger than the world around her. Is she wasn't, she had already lost.

 _You can rest. I will make you strong again_ , the voice spoke in her head. It no longer disguised itself as her. It couldn't after this. She didn't even know herself right now. Blake's eyes closed and she leaned over and consciousness was taken from her. She fell over and everything went away. Maybe when she woke up this would all just be a cruel dream. Maybe she'd forget it all like most nightmares. Maybe Adam would be there. And he could sit by the fire after he came back. Just like she did.

 _I'm sorry._

Blake whimpered to herself in her sleep. No one was there to hear it. Not Adam. Nor her team. Just her, and her little black flame.

 **Sigh. Jesus this still isn't as long as I thought. I'm sorry about this. I've been having a really hard time dealing with things lately. I still am holding to my first post at the top, and won't be posting as many authors notes. I've been coming off some antipsychotic medication that affect a lot of the things I experience. Things are making such little sense. It's like certain things are wrong and right at the same time. But it's hard to register. I have to get the balance back naturally and I hope my chapters won't be reflecting that. Withdrawal is a serious issue. But I am going to continue the story. What has come back was my drive for writing. And everything will restore over time. With that said, I hope that's good news. It's good news for me. Those meds really affected my life in ways that most people don't realize, and hey, I'm recovering now :D**

 **I'd hate to leave on a bad note, so just know, unless I say so, everything is gonna get better. The story, the length, everything. Including myself. But if you think it will suck, I won't stop you from hitting the road like horse turds. But you're no horse turds! No sirs! You, are the very definition of the cats PJ's. Thanks for reading thus far. The intro's are over. Now the real fun begins. Until next time everyone. Later.**

 **Post edit notes: SOMEHOW every time I look for corrections then save using the editor on this site, every time after I save those corrections, the word count raises magically by 1k+ some how and I don't know why. I spent ten minutes looking that over, so if some shit happened it isn't showing up in my editor, I didn't see it before posting this. If you know why this happens, please tell me so I don't go crazy. If I miss anything like that, seriously, please let me know so I can fix it and improve the quality of the story. Thanks**


	13. Upadte chapter

Hello my peeps. I really didn't wanna have to post an update on account it's just a chapter that takes up space but, UPDATE! EVERYTHING IN MY DOCUMENTS TURNED WEIRD!

Long story short I have been spacing out my chapter writing times instead of going all at once like I said I would work on. And I have. Next thing you know all the letters were replaced with a foreign money symbol. This one to be exact:

So while staring at my computer full of €€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€€

See how long I made that? Now imagine you are working on three different stories and everything turns into a FUCKING EURO SYMBOL! AND I LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES! It's even more annoying than that. So, I am not putting this on hiatus but give me some time to recover the damage that I for some reason can't undo. I have never been so angry for looking at a symbol for money in my life smh…

On top of that, I haven't been feeling myself lately. I haven't connected with all my readers, or most or even a lot of them for that matter, but for those who have I've been feeling a bit off. Getting withdrawals from kicking my meds sucks, and now that those are over, I'm having a hard time adjusting to being without them. So many years of needing them have left me a little unbalanced. And now that I'm not suppressed to the experience of, well everything (seriously even colors are better now!), Uhm… I'm not used to it. I can't really talk with a lot of people about it because people most likely aren't needing to take antipsychotics for more than a handful of years… Yeah. I'm not a druggy, just stimulated wrong. Seriously I'm going fucking nuts. I can see after images sometimes, sunspots are way too strong, I wear sunglasses inside, everything is tense, my appetite is broken, and I can't even sleep right after I can sleep right. More often than not, I don't sleep. World record is 11 days 25 minutes my ass. People who have PSTD sometimes don't sleep for years. And I'm pretty sure there's a child in this world who's still alive who dies if they go to sleep. Yes that's real.

My point is the world is too big U-U

I'm not stopping writing, it's just really hard to focus. I need some time to adjust. Think things through. Write some things down. Like I'm doing now…

I'm still losing it. Anyway, I'm sorry to have to do this whole update thing. I got nobody to talk to around here but myself, and with myself we're gonna figure this out! Maybe we'll go insane again. I don't have that problem either but you get it. So until then, I'm gonna have a little trouble updating my stories :(

I may get some management help. With the stories. I don't like accepting help. I hope this doesn't upset you as much as it does me. And with school I have other things to focus on. Like people who try to be revolutionary fanatics because their past relatives were discriminated against when in actuality I'm "Privileged". You wanna know what it's like to be white, straight and a guy?

In the first few weeks of college in Massachusetts (That's right. One of the best places for college on the fucking planet) I've already been threatened for being white which resulted in me punching a black male, been harassed by presumably an arrogant girl because I was male and no other reason like a reverse role of the 50's, and because of the growing transgender population the sis-gender male population is diminishing. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that but when I have to tell them I'm a straight and comfortable being a guy, they are fucking disgusted. I'm not being bullied. In fact I'll give you a piece of my mind for any of the above. But am I allowed to be angry? It's who I am. I didn't ask to be born 'privileged'.

So that's the story behind the your author Dust.

Hope you enjoyed my rambling, because any time I try to tell someone about it that's immediately all it is because of who I am. Thanks for listening anyway. Feels good to spill some beans. Now I'm gonna thrown them at people. And some rocks. I'm gonna go throw some rocks at people. Because I'm normal. And because I'm privileged. Can't forget about that one.

End of non hiatus related update.

I'm not stopping. I'm not a quitter. I'll do things the hard way. Even unto death. Give me some time. Life is getting in the way and I'm gonna kick it in it's respective dick/boobs/ass or attack helicopter equivalent regardless of gender, identity, race or sexuality. Let's say I'm ending this on a good note. 

-Dust

"I fucking hate so many people."- Dust, September 26, 2017.


	14. Update 2

Hello my people!

I am Dust

This is a message. I'm back :D

Noooow when I started writing I said I wouldn't post chapters after a month of nothing to show for it so I by default am a terrible person. But anyway I am back and am writing again, hopefully you're still interested. If not that's fine! But I'm writing this regardless because I would like my people know my time management along with poor inspiration kind of took part in that. I want to write because I want to! Not because I feel like I _need_ to. So I'm looking into getting some help. I know readers here do things like co-write and have beta readers for early feedback but I don't know how to go about it. So I'd like to ask if anyone is still there how something like this works. I currently have like 2 stories (deleted my 3rd) and need some help getting back into things! If anyone is interested or can offer some advice it'd be much appreciated! Because I love writing this stuff. It makes me whole. And seeing other people like it makes it that much better. So, that's all the knees for now, I'm not abandoning anything, just looking for a hand. It doesn't need to be extreme, just have good knowledge of the bases for things like characters and plot development. Or uh, like one of the two. Yeah. That's all. Any help or even enthusiasm would be great! Until then, I'll talk to you guys in the next chapter! That's right I got like half of the next chapters for each story already in the works! Later :D

-Dust

PS: sorry this was just a personal udate/address concerning me not posting until now IK I said I'm sorry.


	15. An apology

Hi everyone. This is dust. Unfortunately, I've been through the number of traffic events since last updating any if my stories. As of today, it's been months, and I've come so close to posting time and time again, but anxiety and depression have gotten in my way, and u end up scrapping the entire chapter and trying to start over. I'd say, maybe these could go up for adoption seeing as though there was just barely any development, but it's not gonna be the same. After having a close call with suicide, personally I need to focus on something to drive me to keep living. My stories are desperate in their own drive, and I'm afraid finding my reason to live has overtaken my reason to write. It's not entirely hopeless. I've met quite a few people in this community and was charged for the time I spent talking with you all! But for the time being, I can't focus, I can't think, I can't sleep. I can't do a lot of things. Not right now. I'm still here, I may even talk with some of you still, or who the hell knows, make a collaborative short story. You guys are full of ideas, I love hearing about them. But my stories personally I've lost touch with. I'm not sure what else to say... I'd like to say thank you though. There were a select few people who helped me stay whole on here. I wish it could've lasted longer. But, the past is behind us. For better or worse, don't let it take up your present. Every day is a gift. That's why it's called the present. Thanks for reading everyone. I'm not saying goodbye. Because goodbye means you're gone. I'll just be somewhere else right now. And thus, I kindly scatter.

-Dust


End file.
